Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Increases Position in Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) by 506.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 600 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Ralph Lauren by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,120,508 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $489,795,000 after acquiring an additional 70,544 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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. grew its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,237,512 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $285,841,000 after purchasing an additional 289,924 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ralph Lauren by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,079,578 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $249,361,000 after acquiring an additional 82,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 968,776 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $223,513,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on RL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $260.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ralph Lauren from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ralph Lauren from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Stock Up 0.7%

RL opened at $286.65 on Friday. Ralph Lauren Corporation has a one year low of $155.96 and a one year high of $295.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $275.32 and its 200-day moving average is $250.11. The company has a market capitalization of $17.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.27. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 31.76% and a net margin of 10.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Corporation will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.9125 per share. This represents a $3.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 27th. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is currently 31.44%.

Ralph Lauren declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the textile maker to purchase up to 8.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ralph Lauren 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.