Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $507,000 Investment in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,194 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank increased its position in Ralph Lauren by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 222 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ralph Lauren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ralph Lauren by 181.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Ralph Lauren by 333.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 351 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. 67.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on RL. TD Cowen upped their price target on Ralph Lauren from $208.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Ralph Lauren from $171.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.09.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

RL opened at $256.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.49. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 12 month low of $138.90 and a 12 month high of $256.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $199.64.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 10.15%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. Ralph Lauren’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is 31.46%.

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.