BMO Capital Markets Increases Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Price Target to $205.00

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $197.00 to $205.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underperform" rating on the textile maker's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price objective points to a potential downside of 24.71% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on RL. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cfra Research lowered shares of Ralph Lauren from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim raised their price target on Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ralph Lauren from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $260.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $276.40.

Ralph Lauren Stock Down 1.9%

Ralph Lauren stock traded down $5.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $272.29. 237,019 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 838,543. Ralph Lauren has a one year low of $155.96 and a one year high of $289.33. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.44. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $227.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the textile maker to purchase up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RL. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $489,795,000 after buying an additional 70,544 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ralph Lauren by 22.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,512,903 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $333,958,000 after purchasing an additional 275,391 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 205,121 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 55.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,867 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $245,468,000 after acquiring an additional 414,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors own 67.91% of the company's stock.

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.

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