Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $240.00 price objective on the textile maker’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $275.00.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $258.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $257.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James cut shares of Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Ralph Lauren in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $310.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.43.

Ralph Lauren Stock Performance

NYSE RL opened at $181.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Ralph Lauren has a 1-year low of $155.96 and a 1-year high of $289.33. The company has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $243.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $227.46.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.11%.

Institutional Trading of Ralph Lauren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $489,795,000 after acquiring an additional 70,544 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,415,473 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $326,946,000 after purchasing an additional 205,121 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $285,841,000 after buying an additional 289,924 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $249,361,000 after buying an additional 82,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,927 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $227,085,000 after buying an additional 65,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

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.