Patton Fund Management Inc. Sells 14,532 Shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Patton Fund Management Inc. lessened its stake in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 63.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,316 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 14,532 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $2,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 6,216.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 73,337 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $25,933,000 after purchasing an additional 72,176 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 177.9% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 54,701 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $19,343,000 after purchasing an additional 35,016 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 41,688 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $14,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,133 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 63,180 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $22,552,000 after purchasing an additional 32,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 4th quarter valued at $1,815,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $437.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Citigroup raised Ralph Lauren from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $360.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ralph Lauren from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Ralph Lauren from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.07.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:RL opened at $411.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.25, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.35. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 12 month low of $266.20 and a 12 month high of $421.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $373.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $363.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The textile maker reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.28. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 18.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is currently 26.47%.

Ralph Lauren Profile

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of premium lifestyle products under the Ralph Lauren name and a portfolio of related brands. The company, founded by Ralph Lauren in 1967 and headquartered in New York City, has grown from a single line of men’s neckties into a global lifestyle business that spans apparel, accessories and home goods.

Ralph Lauren’s product assortment includes menswear, womenswear and childrenswear along with footwear, leather goods, eyewear, fragrances and home furnishings.