Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 970 Shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,748 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $1,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,139,975 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $221,007,000 after purchasing an additional 137,631 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 949,512 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $183,787,000 after purchasing an additional 30,694 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 158.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 863,336 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $149,478,000 after purchasing an additional 528,778 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 839,296 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $162,714,000 after purchasing an additional 78,008 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 520,393 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $100,889,000 after purchasing an additional 60,610 shares during the period. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RL. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $171.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Cfra set a $171.00 price objective on Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.09.

Ralph Lauren Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE RL opened at $240.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $227.05 and its 200 day moving average is $197.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 12 month low of $134.90 and a 12 month high of $245.92. The stock has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.46%.

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.