Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Takes $5.88 Million Position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,469 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $5,883,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RL. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $285,841,000 after buying an additional 289,924 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $326,946,000 after acquiring an additional 205,121 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 671.0% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,239 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $31,637,000 after acquiring an additional 118,569 shares during the last quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter worth $20,788,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 valued at $249,361,000 after purchasing an additional 82,819 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Ralph Lauren Stock Down 1.3%

Ralph Lauren stock traded down $3.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $278.07. 572,438 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 823,691. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 1-year low of $155.96 and a 1-year high of $289.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $236.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Ralph Lauren declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the textile maker to purchase up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.9125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on RL. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Cfra Research downgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren 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.