Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) Rating Lowered to Underperform at Jefferies Financial Group

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $32.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $42.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 13.56% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Urban Outfitters from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Urban Outfitters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Urban Outfitters from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Urban Outfitters from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Urban Outfitters from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.67.

Urban Outfitters Price Performance

URBN stock opened at $37.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $41.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.05. Urban Outfitters has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $47.29.

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The apparel retailer reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.04). Urban Outfitters had a net margin of 5.58% and a return on equity of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Urban Outfitters will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Urban Outfitters

In other Urban Outfitters news, CFO Melanie Marein-Efron sold 6,000 shares of Urban Outfitters stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total value of $244,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,973.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Melanie Marein-Efron sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total value of $244,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,973.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Azeez Hayne sold 2,878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $117,278.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,278.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,473 shares of company stock worth $757,483. 31.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Urban Outfitters

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of URBN. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Urban Outfitters by 21.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,133,038 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $336,328,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138,104 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Urban Outfitters during the first quarter worth $39,144,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Urban Outfitters by 165.0% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,740,106 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $48,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,423 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Urban Outfitters by 239.4% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 1,217,724 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $29,043,000 after purchasing an additional 858,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Urban Outfitters by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,672,586 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $273,835,000 after purchasing an additional 674,790 shares during the last quarter. 77.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc engages in the retail and wholesale of general consumer products. The company operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Nully. It operates Urban Outfitters stores, which offer women's and men's fashion apparel, activewear, intimates, footwear, accessories, home goods, electronics, and beauty products for young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores that provide women's apparel, accessories, intimates, shoes, and home furnishings, as well as gifts, decorative items, and beauty and wellness products for women aged 28 to 45.