Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 3,750 Shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 28.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,475 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 3,750 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $2,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of RL. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $285,841,000 after acquiring an additional 289,924 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 24,164.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 254,292 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $56,132,000 after purchasing an additional 253,244 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ralph Lauren by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $326,946,000 after purchasing an additional 205,121 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren during the 1st quarter worth about $37,517,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 671.0% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,239 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $31,637,000 after buying an additional 118,569 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ralph Lauren from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $384.00 price objective on Ralph Lauren and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL traded up $3.33 on Tuesday, hitting $273.88. The company had a trading volume of 571,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,938. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1-year low of $155.96 and a 1-year high of $289.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company's fifty day moving average price is $253.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $243.77. The stock has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.27. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 31.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.9125 per share. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.42%.

Ralph Lauren declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the textile maker to reacquire up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.