Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Purchases 217 Shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,904 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Lululemon Athletica were worth $973,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,503,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 30.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 189,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 44,141 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 11.6% in the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 95,880 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $36,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,943 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 1.9% in the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 290,658 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $112,081,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. 85.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance

Shares of LULU traded down $2.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $386.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,879,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,658,811. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $461.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $442.40. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 1-year low of $310.41 and a 1-year high of $516.39. The company has a market capitalization of $48.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The apparel retailer reported $5.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.00 by $0.29. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 44.41%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to buy up to 1.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LULU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $525.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $450.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $539.00 price target (down from $596.00) on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.66.

About Lululemon Athletica

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 operates in two segments, Company-Operated Stores and Direct to Consumer. The company offers pants, shorts, tops, and jackets for healthy lifestyle, such as yoga, running, training, and other activities.