Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,280 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 884 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Ralph Lauren worth $21,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,338 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 281.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 202 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,084 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter worth $10,777,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter worth $16,848,000. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on RL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Ralph Lauren from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. 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 report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group set a $384.00 price objective on Ralph Lauren and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

NYSE RL traded down $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $287.00. 526,485 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 808,037. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $271.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.59. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1 year low of $155.96 and a 1 year high of $295.52. 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 has a market cap of $17.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.49.

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

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.9125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Ralph Lauren's payout ratio is currently 31.44%.

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