Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 7,715 Shares of Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,003 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 7,715 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ralph Lauren were worth $2,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RL. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the third quarter valued at approximately $94,831,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 13.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,139,975 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $221,007,000 after acquiring an additional 137,631 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ralph Lauren during the third quarter valued at approximately $19,320,000. Atreides Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 28.3% during the third 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 raised its holdings in shares of Ralph Lauren by 10.2% during the third 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 own 67.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RL shares. Argus upgraded Ralph Lauren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ralph Lauren from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Cfra set a $171.00 price target on Ralph Lauren in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BNP Paribas raised Ralph Lauren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Ralph Lauren from $171.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.91.

Ralph Lauren Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE RL opened at $258.34 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $234.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Ralph Lauren Co. has a 12 month low of $142.26 and a 12 month high of $260.77. The stock has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.49.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The textile maker reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 29.44% and a net margin of 10.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Ralph Lauren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.46%.

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.