Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Acquires Shares of 4,518 Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI has acquired a new stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation, purchasing 4,518 shares valued at approximately $997,000.
• Other institutional investors, like Invesco Ltd. and AQR Capital Management, have also increased their holdings, indicating strong institutional interest as 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by such investors.
• Ralph Lauren recently reported a 13.7% increase in revenue year-over-year for the last quarter and topped earnings estimates with $3.77 per share against a consensus of $3.50.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,518 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $997,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,031 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,135 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $2,341,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 195,973 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $45,266,000 after buying an additional 45,249 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 21,536 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $4,974,000 after buying an additional 1,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,943 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on RL. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Ralph Lauren from $385.00 to $404.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Ralph Lauren to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.76.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of Ralph Lauren stock traded down $1.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $315.23. The company had a trading volume of 518,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 561,186. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $296.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.21. The stock has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1-year low of $176.61 and a 1-year high of $321.77.

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

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 26th will be given a $0.9125 dividend. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

Ralph Lauren declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the textile maker to purchase up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Ralph Lauren

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.