Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 694 Shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,999 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Ralph Lauren worth $12,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 492,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $95,537,000 after purchasing an additional 13,640 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 145.8% in the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 59,927 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $11,618,000 after buying an additional 35,550 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Ralph Lauren during the third quarter worth about $1,819,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 210.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,196,000 after buying an additional 4,178 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital Group increased its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 83.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 6,653 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 3,029 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ralph Lauren Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:RL opened at $229.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.50. Ralph Lauren Co. has a twelve month low of $134.90 and a twelve month high of $237.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $217.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is presently 31.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on RL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $171.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $208.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Cfra set a $171.00 target price on Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.90.

Ralph Lauren Company Profile

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.