Mather Group LLC. Purchases Shares of 342 Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 342 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of RL. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 67.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,214,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $175,001,000 after purchasing an additional 487,882 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Ralph Lauren by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 794,127 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $114,513,000 after acquiring an additional 331,413 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ralph Lauren by 10,207.7% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 325,208 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $61,061,000 after purchasing an additional 322,053 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the 4th quarter valued at about $18,944,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1,222.2% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 119,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $17,160,000 after purchasing an additional 110,000 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Ralph Lauren in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.50.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

RL stock opened at $182.61 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.44. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 1 year low of $108.60 and a 1 year high of $192.03.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The textile maker reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.86%.

Insider Activity

In other Ralph Lauren news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 39.09% 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, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.