Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James

Raymond James cut shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on RL. Cfra set a $171.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $208.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Argus raised Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.91.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

NYSE RL opened at $256.68 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $233.93 and its 200-day moving average is $201.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.49. Ralph Lauren has a 12-month low of $142.26 and a 12-month high of $260.77.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren will post 11.75 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 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 222 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 271 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ralph Lauren in the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in Ralph Lauren by 181.7% during the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 333.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 351 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

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, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances.