Ralph Lauren (RL) Downgraded to Underperform at Bank of America

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on RL. Cowen set a $89.00 target price on Ralph Lauren and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Macquarie upgraded Ralph Lauren to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $96.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Tigress Financial restated a “hold” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Miller Tabak lowered Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upgraded Ralph Lauren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Ralph Lauren currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.66.

Ralph Lauren (RL) opened at $100.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8,224.22, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.66. Ralph Lauren has a twelve month low of $66.06 and a twelve month high of $104.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.09.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The textile maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.09. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 14.06% and a net margin of 1.29%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

In related news, insider Valerie Hermann sold 2,400 shares of Ralph Lauren stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.22, for a total value of $218,928.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,028 shares in the company, valued at $3,195,254.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 32.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pensionfund Sabic bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,338,000. Pensionfund DSM Netherlands bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,676,000. Telemus Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Telemus Capital now owns 13,321 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 12,517 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 235,270 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $26,228,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.98% of the company’s stock.

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Ralph Lauren Company Profile

Ralph Lauren Corporation is engaged in the design, marketing and distribution of lifestyle products, including apparel, accessories, home furnishings and other licensed product categories. The Company operates through three segments: Wholesale, Retail and Licensing. Wholesale business consists of sales made to department stores and specialty stores around the world.