Needham & Company LLC Begins Coverage on Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL)

Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $310.00 target price on the textile maker’s stock.

RL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cfra set a $171.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.33.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

NYSE:RL opened at $273.03 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Ralph Lauren has a twelve month low of $155.96 and a twelve month high of $289.33. The company has a fifty day moving average of $241.31 and a 200-day moving average of $208.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 30.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.11%.

Institutional Trading of Ralph Lauren

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1,270.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 137 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 281.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 202 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Ralph Lauren by 86.6% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 222 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Ralph Lauren by 8,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 271 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.