Advisor Resource Council Purchases Shares of 1,183 Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Advisor Resource Council purchased a new stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,183 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RL. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $489,795,000 after acquiring an additional 70,544 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $326,946,000 after acquiring an additional 205,121 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $285,841,000 after acquiring an additional 289,924 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $249,361,000 after acquiring an additional 82,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,927 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $227,085,000 after acquiring an additional 65,303 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on RL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ralph Lauren from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group set a $384.00 target price on Ralph Lauren and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $262.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of RL stock opened at $270.54 on Tuesday. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a one year low of $155.96 and a one year high of $289.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $253.61 and a 200-day moving average of $243.77.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.27. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 31.76% and a net margin of 10.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.9125 per share. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.42%.

Ralph Lauren announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the textile maker to repurchase up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.