Royce & Associates LP Decreases Stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP cut its Ralph Lauren stake by 14% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,654 shares and ending with 77,843 shares valued at about $27.5 million.
• Ralph Lauren’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $2.80 versus $2.52 expected and revenue of $1.98 billion versus $1.85 billion forecast, while sales rose 16.6% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share from $0.91, and Wall Street remains constructive overall with 15 Buy ratings and an average price target of $428.29.

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,843 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 12,654 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.13% of Ralph Lauren worth $27,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 4,425 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $1,565,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,762 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $3,688,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 0.4% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,311 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $2,920,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 179 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1.1% in the third quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC now owns 3,230 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Ralph Lauren from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Evercore set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $437.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Friday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $428.29.

Ralph Lauren Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:RL opened at $377.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.37. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1-year low of $258.13 and a 1-year high of $393.41. The company's fifty day moving average price is $354.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $356.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The textile maker reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 38.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 18.12 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 26th. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.16%.

About Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation NYSE: RL is a global designer, marketer and distributor of premium lifestyle products under the Ralph Lauren name and a portfolio of related brands. The company, founded by Ralph Lauren in 1967 and headquartered in New York City, has grown from a single line of men's neckties into a global lifestyle business that spans apparel, accessories and home goods.

Ralph Lauren's product assortment includes menswear, womenswear and childrenswear along with footwear, leather goods, eyewear, fragrances and home furnishings.

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