Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $499,000 Stock Position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,159 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RL. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 3rd quarter valued at $94,831,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,139,975 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $221,007,000 after buying an additional 137,631 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren in the 3rd quarter valued at $19,320,000. Atreides Management LP lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 377,481 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $73,182,000 after acquiring an additional 83,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in Ralph Lauren by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 839,296 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $162,714,000 after acquiring an additional 78,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Ralph Lauren from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $310.00 price objective on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $220.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.15.

Ralph Lauren Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of RL stock opened at $220.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $253.92 and its 200-day moving average is $222.82. The stock has a market cap of $13.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.50. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 52-week low of $155.96 and a 52-week high of $289.33.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last issued its 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 net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 30.88%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 12.01 EPS for the current year.

Ralph Lauren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Ralph Lauren’s payout ratio is 30.11%.

About Ralph Lauren

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.