Empirical Finance LLC Purchases Shares of 644 Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Empirical Finance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 644 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica in the third quarter valued at $953,000. Rheos Capital Works Inc. increased its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 19.2% during the third quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 15,500 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 198.8% in the 3rd quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 6,860 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 4,564 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 103,424 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $28,070,000 after purchasing an additional 34,704 shares during the period. Finally, Touchstone Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Lululemon Athletica during the third quarter worth approximately $4,084,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $414.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $380.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $382.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $399.14.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

LULU opened at $397.63 on Wednesday. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.01 and a 12 month high of $480.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $388.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $317.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.19.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The apparel retailer reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.69 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 42.16%. Lululemon Athletica’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lululemon Athletica

In other news, insider Nicole Neuburger sold 2,022 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.11, for a total value of $782,736.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,399,307.78. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Celeste Burgoyne sold 24,870 shares of Lululemon Athletica stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.54, for a total transaction of $10,085,779.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,429 shares in the company, valued at $5,040,456.66. The trade was a 66.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Lululemon Athletica Company Profile

Lululemon Athletica Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, distributes, and retails athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories under the lululemon brand for women and men. It offers pants, shorts, tops, and jackets for healthy lifestyle, such as yoga, running, training, and other activities. It also provides fitness-inspired accessories.