Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Has $929,000 Stake in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,948 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ralph Lauren by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 12,999 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP raised its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 5.4% in the first quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 2,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,313 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ralph Lauren by 2.0% during the first quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 10,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,962,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on RL. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.50.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE RL traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $173.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 616,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,145. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.31. The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.52. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 52 week low of $108.60 and a 52 week high of $192.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The textile maker reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. Ralph Lauren had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 27.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is a positive change from Ralph Lauren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ralph Lauren news, COO Jane Nielsen sold 67,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.25, for a total transaction of $11,515,363.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 44,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,636,208.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances.