Oak Thistle LLC Cuts Position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Oak Thistle LLC decreased its holdings in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 50.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,164 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 1,183 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 67.2% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,214,000 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $175,001,000 after purchasing an additional 487,882 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ralph Lauren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,944,000. Bridgefront Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 251.5% during the fourth quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 12,330 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 8,822 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 80,043 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $11,542,000 after purchasing an additional 33,489 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 9.9% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

RL stock opened at $172.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.25. Ralph Lauren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $108.60 and a fifty-two week high of $192.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The textile maker reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ralph Lauren

In other Ralph Lauren news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.25, for a total value of $11,515,363.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 44,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,636,208.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RL. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Friday, May 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $244.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.50.

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, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.