M&T Bank Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Ralph Lauren Corporation $RL

M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 6,216.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 73,337 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,176 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $25,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,625,000. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the period. Ticino Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter valued at about $681,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Patrice Louvet sold 47,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.22, for a total transaction of $16,648,340.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 85,552 shares in the company, valued at $30,304,229.44. The trade was a 35.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 38.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RL opened at $375.13 on Thursday. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a 1 year low of $212.52 and a 1 year high of $393.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The company’s 50-day moving average is $358.41 and its 200 day moving average is $351.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.46.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The textile maker reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.42. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 11.73% and a return on equity of 37.97%. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.82 earnings per share. Ralph Lauren’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 16.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 27th were given a dividend of $0.9125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 27th. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on RL shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Evercore set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ralph Lauren currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $399.19.

About Ralph Lauren

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.