Ralph Lauren Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.83 (NYSE:RL)

Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 14th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of 0.825 per share by the textile maker on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th.

Ralph Lauren has increased its dividend by an average of 16.1% annually over the last three years. Ralph Lauren has a payout ratio of 21.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ralph Lauren to earn $13.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.2%.

Ralph Lauren Price Performance

NYSE:RL opened at $231.92 on Wednesday. Ralph Lauren has a 52-week low of $155.96 and a 52-week high of $289.33. The company has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.50. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.47.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The textile maker reported $4.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.46 by $0.36. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on RL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Ralph Lauren in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $310.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded Ralph Lauren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ralph Lauren from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $280.00 to $286.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.62.

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.