Credit Agricole S A Grows Stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A increased its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation by 64.6%, owning approximately $17.94 million worth of shares after purchasing an additional 31,885 shares in the first quarter.
• Ralph Lauren received a "strong-buy" rating from Zacks Research, with analysts generally favoring the stock; it has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $306.41.
• The company announced a stock repurchase plan authorizing the buyback of up to $1.50 billion worth of its shares, indicating that its leadership believes the stock is undervalued.

Credit Agricole S A lifted its position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 64.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,255 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 31,885 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A owned 0.13% of Ralph Lauren worth $17,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RL. Invesco Ltd. lifted 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 buying an additional 275,391 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 24,164.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 254,292 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $56,132,000 after buying an additional 253,244 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren during the first quarter worth approximately $37,517,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren during the first quarter worth approximately $23,520,000. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,788,000. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on RL. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $262.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $306.41.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 0.1%

RL traded up $0.4160 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $285.8760. 594,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 745,843. The firm's fifty day moving average is $286.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.14. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1-year low of $167.32 and a 1-year high of $306.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $17.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.53.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.27. The firm 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%.Ralph Lauren's revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.