Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Upgraded at Cfra Research

Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

RL has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $258.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James cut shares of Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Argus raised Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.43.

Ralph Lauren Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:RL opened at $202.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $12.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.38. Ralph Lauren has a fifty-two week low of $155.96 and a fifty-two week high of $289.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $235.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.46.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 30.88%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ralph Lauren will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RL. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $489,795,000 after purchasing an additional 70,544 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $326,946,000 after buying an additional 205,121 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $285,841,000 after buying an additional 289,924 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $249,361,000 after buying an additional 82,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,927 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $227,085,000 after acquiring an additional 65,303 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

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.