Candriam S.C.A. Increases Stock Position in Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 21.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,544 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,513 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned 0.17% of Ralph Lauren worth $28,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RL. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 22.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,512,903 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $333,958,000 after purchasing an additional 275,391 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,867 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $245,468,000 after buying an additional 414,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,014,880 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $277,818,000 after buying an additional 15,785 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 565,687 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $124,870,000 after buying an additional 79,934 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 118.3% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 388,138 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $106,458,000 after acquiring an additional 210,343 shares in the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on RL. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $354.00 to $399.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Ralph Lauren from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ralph Lauren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $347.13.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

Shares of RL stock opened at $332.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.84. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a one year low of $176.61 and a one year high of $342.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $320.28 and its 200 day moving average is $293.23.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The textile maker reported $3.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.34. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.91% and a return on equity of 33.72%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.9125 per share. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 26th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.98%.

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.