Seven Eight Capital LP Invests $3.55 Million in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,872 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,546,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LULU. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Lululemon Athletica by 19,890.3% in the 2nd quarter. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd now owns 4,653,746 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,390,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630,466 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,692,969 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,955,918,000 after buying an additional 2,369,119 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the 4th quarter worth approximately $236,378,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,046,011 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $534,815,000 after buying an additional 257,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 2,485.5% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 238,664 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $122,027,000 after purchasing an additional 229,433 shares in the last quarter. 85.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $329.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Sunday, September 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $416.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Raymond James decreased their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $350.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $420.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lululemon Athletica presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.94.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LULU opened at $268.41 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $261.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.25. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.01 and a 1 year high of $516.39.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 16.34% and a return on equity of 42.59%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 earnings per share. Lululemon Athletica’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Calvin Mcdonald bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $260.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,040,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,922 shares in the company, valued at $23,379,720. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lululemon Athletica 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.