Citadel Advisors and its affiliates, the investment management firm headed by Kenneth Griffin, increased its stake in Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) based on its latest 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The investment management firm disclosed that it currently have 5.3% passive stake or 3,173,392 shares in Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL). During the third quarter last year, Citadel Advisors owned 1,155,289 shares of the retailer.
Earlier this month, Citadel Advisors also acquired a 5% stake in Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO).
Ralph Lauren’s earnings beat estimates
Earlier this week, Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) released better-than-expected earnings results for its fiscal third quarter that ended December 28. The retailer said its earnings increased to $257 million or $2.57 per share from $216 million or $2.31 per share in the year-ago quarter. Its total revenue increased 9.7% to $1.97 billion or $2.02 billion including licensing revenue.
The company’s quarterly financial results beat the $2.51 earnings per share on $2 billion revenue consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts. For the current quarter, Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) projected that its revenue will increase 7%.
The stock price of the company is trading around $156.04 per share, up by 2.50% at the time of this writing, 12:15 in the afternoon in New York. Over the past 52-week range, the shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) traded from $146 to $192.03 per share.
Stock rating
TheStreet Ratings team recommended a Buy with an A- rating score for the shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) with a ratings score citing positive investment measures, which could help the stock outperform.
“The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels, notable return on equity and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income,” according to the TheStreet Ratings team.
On the other hand, Analysts at Credit Suisse recommended an Outperform rating for the shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) and lowered their price target to $185 per share.
