Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Grows Stock Holdings in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 942,720 shares of the textile maker's stock after acquiring an additional 13,551 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.52% of Ralph Lauren worth $217,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of RL. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $326,946,000 after buying an additional 205,121 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $285,841,000 after acquiring an additional 289,924 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $249,361,000 after purchasing an additional 82,819 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,927 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $227,085,000 after purchasing an additional 65,303 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 968,776 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $223,513,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on RL. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ralph Lauren from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $282.00 to $219.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $262.00 price objective on Ralph Lauren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Ralph Lauren from $258.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $272.14.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

NYSE:RL traded up $1.78 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $223.73. 599,131 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 840,897. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $13.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.38. Ralph Lauren Co. has a twelve month low of $155.96 and a twelve month high of $289.33. The stock's 50-day moving average is $225.32 and its 200-day moving average is $228.87.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 30.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Ralph Lauren's payout ratio is currently 30.11%.

Ralph Lauren Company 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, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances.