Dupont Capital Management Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Dupont Capital Management Corp lifted its position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,591 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Dupont Capital Management Corp's holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $4,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RL. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 worth $56,132,000 after purchasing an additional 253,244 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 purchased a new stake in Ralph Lauren during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,517,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Ralph Lauren by 671.0% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,239 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $31,637,000 after purchasing an additional 118,569 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $260.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL traded up $3.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $273.88. The company had a trading volume of 571,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,938. The business has a 50-day moving average of $253.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1 year low of $155.96 and a 1 year high of $289.33. The company has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.51.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 31.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.9125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.42%.

Ralph Lauren announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the textile maker to reacquire up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management 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.