Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Research Coverage Started at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $310.00 price objective on the textile maker’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on RL. Raymond James lowered Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Cfra set a $171.00 price target on Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $257.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.33.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Ralph Lauren stock opened at $282.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $243.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $209.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Ralph Lauren has a twelve month low of $155.96 and a twelve month high of $289.33.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,461 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter valued at $1,796,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter valued at $235,000. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 7,469 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 429,870 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $99,291,000 after buying an additional 53,241 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.