Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim reissued their buy rating on shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the textile maker’s stock.

RL has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James upped their price target on Ralph Lauren from $135.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an outperform rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. They set a buy rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ralph Lauren presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $170.50.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

NYSE RL traded up $3.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $173.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,330,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,909. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.51. Ralph Lauren has a fifty-two week low of $103.17 and a fifty-two week high of $192.03. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ralph Lauren will post 11.26 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.86%.

Institutional Trading of Ralph Lauren

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 2.8% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,378 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 12,999 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 47.9% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 315 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 99.2% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 245 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 2,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.