Analysts Set Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) Price Target at $170.50

Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $170.50.

RL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ralph Lauren news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.25, for a total value of $11,515,363.75. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 44,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,636,208.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ralph Lauren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RL. Boston Partners increased its stake in Ralph Lauren by 67.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,214,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $175,001,000 after acquiring an additional 487,882 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 15,903.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 448,902 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $84,266,000 after purchasing an additional 446,097 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 71.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 794,127 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $114,513,000 after buying an additional 331,413 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the 1st quarter worth approximately $61,022,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 10,207.7% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 325,208 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $61,061,000 after buying an additional 322,053 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL stock opened at $167.72 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $174.81 and a 200-day moving average of $167.45. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.51. Ralph Lauren has a 12-month low of $108.60 and a 12-month high of $192.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The textile maker reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 27.90% and a net margin of 9.75%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ralph Lauren will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.95%.

About Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men's, women's, and children's clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.