Jennison Associates LLC Increases Position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 520,393 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 60,610 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.84% of Ralph Lauren worth $100,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 12,493.8% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,002,344 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $175,470,000 after purchasing an additional 994,385 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 158.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 863,336 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $149,478,000 after buying an additional 528,778 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Ralph Lauren during the 1st quarter valued at about $61,022,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ralph Lauren by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,908,575 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $921,634,000 after buying an additional 203,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ralph Lauren by 42.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 638,502 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $111,760,000 after buying an additional 189,600 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ralph Lauren from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Ralph Lauren from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $223.90.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

NYSE:RL opened at $205.52 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $198.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.72. The firm has a market cap of $12.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.49. Ralph Lauren Co. has a one year low of $120.95 and a one year high of $237.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.72.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 10.15%. The company's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.46%.

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.