Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) Receives $170.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $170.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on RL shares. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL stock opened at $167.72 on Friday. Ralph Lauren has a 1-year low of $108.60 and a 1-year high of $192.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $174.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.45.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The textile maker reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 27.90% and a net margin of 9.75%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Ralph Lauren’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is 33.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.25, for a total value of $11,515,363.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,636,208.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 71.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 604 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,255,482 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $235,662,000 after acquiring an additional 41,482 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren during the first quarter worth approximately $61,022,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 106.7% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,308 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 4,805 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 166.9% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 20,127 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $3,779,000 after purchasing an additional 12,585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

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.