Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $375.2941.

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $422.00 target price on Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, January 8th.

Institutional Trading of Ralph Lauren

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 498.0% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 897 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 2,184.8% during the 4th quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 22,848 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,079,000 after buying an additional 21,848 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Ralph Lauren by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 589 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,083 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Ralph Lauren stock opened at $367.12 on Friday. Ralph Lauren has a fifty-two week low of $176.61 and a fifty-two week high of $380.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $359.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $22.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The textile maker reported $3.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.34. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 36.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ralph Lauren will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.9125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.98%.

About Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of premium lifestyle products under the Ralph Lauren name and a portfolio of related brands. The company, founded by Ralph Lauren in 1967 and headquartered in New York City, has grown from a single line of men’s neckties into a global lifestyle business that spans apparel, accessories and home goods.

Ralph Lauren’s product assortment includes menswear, womenswear and childrenswear along with footwear, leather goods, eyewear, fragrances and home furnishings.