Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,291 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $1,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,927,941 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $559,026,000 after purchasing an additional 37,574 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,333,095 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $352,208,000 after buying an additional 13,004 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,869,737 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $231,884,000 after acquiring an additional 44,713 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,088,267 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $126,968,000 after acquiring an additional 177,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1.8% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 862,314 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $100,479,000 after purchasing an additional 15,132 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on RL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $132.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.64.

Ralph Lauren Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of RL opened at $160.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.73. Ralph Lauren Co. has a twelve month low of $103.17 and a twelve month high of $192.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.53.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The textile maker reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by $0.64. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.01%.

Ralph Lauren Company Profile

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.