Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL Holdings Reduced by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, owning 825,617 shares valued at approximately $182.2 million.
• Ralph Lauren Corporation recently reported quarterly earnings of $3.77 per share, exceeding analyst expectations with a revenue of $1.72 billion, which is a year-over-year increase of 13.7%.
• The company has launched a stock buyback plan authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.50 billion in outstanding shares, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its holdings in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 825,617 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 117,103 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 1.34% of Ralph Lauren worth $182,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ralph Lauren by 22.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,512,903 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $333,958,000 after purchasing an additional 275,391 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Ralph Lauren by 24,164.5% during 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 period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren in the first quarter worth about $37,517,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,520,000. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,788,000. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on RL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $385.00 to $404.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Ralph Lauren from $262.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Cfra Research raised Ralph Lauren from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.41.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RL traded down $2.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $295.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 191,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,558. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.84. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1-year low of $168.24 and a 1-year high of $306.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $288.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.85. The firm has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.53.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The textile maker reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.50 by $0.27. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.91% and a return on equity of 33.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.70 earnings per share. Ralph Lauren's quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the textile maker to reacquire up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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.