Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $228.09.

RL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Cfra set a $171.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ralph Lauren

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Burney Co. bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,711,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,978 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 4th quarter worth $202,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,600 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

Shares of RL traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $237.39. 628,345 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,476. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.92. Ralph Lauren has a fifty-two week low of $134.90 and a fifty-two week high of $245.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ralph Lauren will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren's payout ratio is currently 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.