Ralph Lauren’s (RL) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Argus

Argus reiterated their hold rating on shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $170.50.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of RL stock opened at $168.74 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $174.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.45. The company has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Ralph Lauren has a 52 week low of $108.60 and a 52 week high of $192.03.

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

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is presently 33.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ralph Lauren news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of Ralph Lauren stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.25, for a total transaction of $11,515,363.75. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,636,208.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 67.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,214,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $175,001,000 after acquiring an additional 487,882 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 4th quarter valued at $18,944,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 251.5% during the 4th quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 12,330 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 8,822 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 80,043 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $11,542,000 after acquiring an additional 33,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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