Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Stock Holdings in Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,486 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,044 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $12,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RL. Blueline Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. 67.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut Ralph Lauren from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Ralph Lauren from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Ralph Lauren from $430.00 to $439.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.07.

Ralph Lauren Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of RL opened at $388.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.34. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 12-month low of $273.04 and a 12-month high of $421.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $379.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $366.21.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The textile maker reported $2.80 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 18.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.47%.

Ralph Lauren Profile

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.