Private Advisory Group LLC Invests $658,000 in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Key Points

• Private Advisory Group LLC invested $658,000 in Ralph Lauren Corporation by acquiring 2,982 shares of its stock in the first quarter.
• Ralph Lauren reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.27, exceeding analysts' estimates and showing an 8.3% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.9125 per share, up from $0.83, reflecting a 1.2% yield and a payout ratio of 31.44%.

Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,982 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of RL. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,148 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 4,879 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,584 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $12,619,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,455 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 3,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $384.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ralph Lauren from $355.00 to $406.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Cfra Research downgraded Ralph Lauren from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $298.19.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RL traded down $4.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $293.88. The company had a trading volume of 675,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 564,274. The stock has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.53. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 12 month low of $155.96 and a 12 month high of $306.34. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $280.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.69.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.27. The business 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 business's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.9125 dividend. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.44%.

Ralph Lauren announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management 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.