First Trust Advisors LP Sells 50,572 Shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 343,839 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 50,572 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.57% of Ralph Lauren worth $107,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 61.3% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 100 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in Ralph Lauren during the second quarter worth about $32,000. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 248.4% during the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 108 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 57.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 143 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL opened at $338.90 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $361.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.18. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1 year low of $176.61 and a 1 year high of $389.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The textile maker reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 37.97% and a net margin of 11.73%.Ralph Lauren’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given 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 yield of 1.1%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ralph Lauren

In other news, CEO Patrice Louvet sold 47,000 shares of Ralph Lauren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.22, for a total value of $16,648,340.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 85,552 shares in the company, valued at $30,304,229.44. This trade represents a 35.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 38.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RL. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $422.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $389.06.

Ralph Lauren Company Profile

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.