Boston Partners Sells 24,606 Shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Key Points

• Boston Partners reduced its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation by 2.5%, selling 24,606 shares, and now owns 958,321 shares, valued at approximately $211.51 million.
• Ralph Lauren's quarterly earnings exceeded estimates, reporting an EPS of $3.77 and revenue of $1.72 billion, marking a 13.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company's dividend was raised to $0.9125 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.83, and it authorized a $1.50 billion share buyback program.

Boston Partners reduced its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 958,321 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 24,606 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 1.55% of Ralph Lauren worth $211,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 122 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 178.0% in the first quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 74.4% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 175.0% in the first quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 275 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on RL shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Cfra Research raised Ralph Lauren from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $355.00 to $406.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.41.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

Ralph Lauren stock opened at $302.25 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $283.53 and its 200 day moving average is $257.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $18.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.53. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a one year low of $158.37 and a one year high of $306.34.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.50 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 33.72% and a net margin of 10.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.9125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 27th. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

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

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, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances.

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