SG Americas Securities LLC Trims Position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 75.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,228 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 16,095 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of RL. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Ralph Lauren during the 3rd quarter valued at $84,288,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 224.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 549,031 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $58,016,000 after buying an additional 379,563 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren in the 1st quarter valued at $40,466,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 440.8% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 393,259 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $45,882,000 after buying an additional 320,547 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 1,687.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 269,999 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,829,000 after buying an additional 254,893 shares during the period. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on RL. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $132.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $135.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $195.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $155.64.

Ralph Lauren Trading Down 1.7 %

Ralph Lauren stock traded down $3.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $173.14. 1,145,152 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 992,762. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.17. Ralph Lauren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $192.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.53. The firm's 50 day moving average is $174.15 and its 200-day moving average is $143.09.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The textile maker reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.53 by $0.64. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 25.88%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.35 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 10.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio is 34.01%.

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, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.