National Bank of Canada FI Has $6.60 Million Stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 59.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,897 shares of the textile maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,132 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $6,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 176,069 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $38,866,000 after acquiring an additional 40,101 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 1st quarter valued at $4,005,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,504 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,136 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $2,910,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 97.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,618 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 4,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Cfra Research raised Ralph Lauren from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ralph Lauren from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $306.41.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of RL stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $290.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 764,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,820. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $284.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.87. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 52 week low of $161.43 and a 52 week high of $306.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Ralph Lauren announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the textile maker to repurchase up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were given a $0.9125 dividend. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

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.