Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Stock

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) had its price objective upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $280.00 to $285.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the textile maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on RL. Guggenheim upped their target price 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. Raymond James downgraded Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cfra set a $171.00 price objective on Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.91.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

RL stock opened at $258.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $234.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.24. Ralph Lauren has a 52-week low of $142.26 and a 52-week high of $260.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 10.15%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 222 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 8,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 271 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Ralph Lauren during the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 181.7% in the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 351 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

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.