PVH Corp. Shareholders: Ownership Structure, Brands, and Acquisition History
Last updated: Oct-2026Ownership Structure
Ownership Analysis
Five asset managers own about 54.6% of PVH, and no individual insider comes close to that. FMR holds 14.8%, Pzena 13.0%, Vanguard 10.4%, BlackRock 9.7% and Dimensional 6.7%, using their latest 13F share counts and 46.14 million shares outstanding. Directors and officers hold about 1%. We think that makes PVH a company run for outside financial owners, not for a founder or family.The two largest holders matter most to us. Pzena and FMR are active, which means their staff pick stocks and can sell them. At $75.80 their stakes are worth roughly $454 million and $518 million. Those are large positions for a company with a $3.51 billion market value, so each firm can ask for a meeting with the chief executive and be heard. Together the five holders own shares worth about $1.9 billion at today's price, which is more than half the company.Vanguard and BlackRock hold shares largely because PVH sits in stock indexes. We expect them to vote with the board on routine matters and not to push for change.Here is our concern. Stefan Larsson, chief executive since January 2021, runs a company whose share price is about 28% below the $105.39 recorded in late 2024. Active owners with 27.8% between two firms have the weight to demand action if results slip again.We also see a takeover angle. Equity value of $3.51 billion plus net debt of about $1.6 billion, based on year end balances, gives an enterprise value close to $5.1 billion. We do not expect a bid, but a buyer would need to persuade only a handful of holders. Our judgment is that the board will lean on buybacks to keep these holders content, and that it is right to do so.
Direct Owners
Institutional Shareholders
Shareholder Analysis
Why would value investors hold an apparel company whose reported profit nearly vanished in 2025? Because they see a cheap price. Pzena, which buys shares trading well below what it judges they are worth, is the second largest holder at 13.0%. The stock sells for about 6.6 times adjusted earnings of $11.40, and about 6.3 times the midpoint of 2026 guidance of $11.80 to $12.10. We understand the appeal, though we remind readers that adjusted profit leaves out the $480 million write down.Holder behavior in 2026 is mixed. Pzena trimmed its position from 6.19 million shares at December 31, 2025 to 5.99 million at June 30, 2026, a cut of about 3%. FMR, by contrast, raised its position by 48.8% in the second quarter, to 6.83 million shares. We read that as one patient owner shrinking slightly and another adding heavily. Dimensional, at 6.7%, buys by formula and favors low priced shares, so we expect it to hold as long as the stock stays cheap. Vanguard, at 10.4%, and BlackRock, at 9.7%, own mainly through index funds that buy whatever the index contains, so they are unlikely to be sellers on any single bad quarter.The company's own buying is the third force. It repurchased $561 million of stock in 2025, which equals 16% of today's market value. It bought nothing in the first half of 2026 but says it will buy at least $300 million this year. That would be about 8.5% of the company at the current price.We conclude that the holder base is supportive but impatient. Value owners accept a low multiple only while profit holds, so we would watch second half buying closely. If management does not deliver it, the larger holders have little reason to stay.
Brands, Subsidiaries & Companies Owned
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy Hilfiger | Brand | Largest brand with $4.77B of fiscal 2025 revenue or about 53% of the total |
| Calvin Klein | Brand | Second brand with $3.96B of fiscal 2025 revenue or about 44% of the total |
| PVH EMEA | Division | Europe, Middle East and Africa segment with $4.27B of fiscal 2025 revenue |
| PVH Americas | Division | North and South American segment with $2.74B of fiscal 2025 revenue |
| PVH Asia Pacific | Division | Asia Pacific segment with $1.52B of fiscal 2025 revenue |
| PVH Licensing | Division | Royalty income of $421.2M from about 30 license agreements per brand |
| Heritage Brands | Division | Men's underwear under a Nike license and dress shirts under a Van Heusen license with $215.3M of revenue |
| Gazal Corporation | Subsidiary | Australian and New Zealand operator of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger bought in 2019 |
Portfolio Analysis
Tommy Hilfiger produced $4.77 billion of fiscal 2025 revenue, 53% of PVH's $8.95 billion, and Calvin Klein added $3.96 billion, 44%. Heritage Brands, the old shirt and underwear business, made only $215.3 million, 2.4%. We view this as a two brand company, and in the second quarter of 2026 the two brands moved apart. Tommy Hilfiger revenue was flat at $1.132 billion, while Calvin Klein fell 7% to $913.3 million.By region the company is Europe heavy. The Europe, Middle East and Africa segment earned $4.27 billion, 47.7% of revenue, against $2.74 billion for the Americas, $1.52 billion for Asia Pacific and $421.2 million for licensing. In the second quarter that European segment fell 6% to $986.3 million. PVH also took a $439 million goodwill write down it linked to geopolitical and economic conditions, which one report tied mainly to Europe. We think Europe is where the next surprise would come from.Licensing deserves its own comment. Royalty revenue fell 13% in the second quarter to $86.9 million as G-III Apparel Group's women's licenses wound down. G-III lost $254 million of PVH brand sales in its fiscal 2026 and expects to lose another $470 million in fiscal 2027. PVH is replacing royalties with sales and costs of its own, so the profit margin has to prove the plan. Tariffs add pressure: PVH put the gross cost at about 80 basis points of margin in 2025 and expects 215 basis points in 2026, though a $107 million refund arrived in the second quarter.Our view is that Tommy Hilfiger is stable and Calvin Klein is the brand to fix. Management guides for roughly flat 2026 revenue and an 8.8% adjusted operating margin. We think that target is hard to reach if Calvin Klein keeps shrinking, so we would watch its quarterly numbers first.
Market Share & Competitors
| Company | Market Share | Revenue | Key Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| PVH Corp ★ | N/A | $8.95B FY2025 | Two global brands with Europe at 48% of sales |
| Ralph Lauren | N/A | $8.1B FY2026 | Fastest growing brand owner in the peer set |
| Levi Strauss | N/A | $6.28B FY2025 | Denim brand with strong direct sales |
| Gildan Activewear | N/A | $3.62B FY2025 | Absorbed Hanesbrands in December 2025 |
| Capri Holdings | N/A | $3.47B FY2026 | Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo |
| G-III Apparel Group | N/A | $2.96B FY2026 | Former PVH licensee now rival and litigant |
Competitive Analysis
Fiscal 2025 revenue of $8.95 billion makes PVH the largest company in the peer group we follow, but its growth trails the best of them. Ralph Lauren reported $8.1 billion for its year ended March 2026, Levi Strauss $6.28 billion for 2025, Gildan Activewear $3.62 billion for 2025 and G-III Apparel Group $2.96 billion for fiscal 2026. PVH grew 3% as reported and under 1% when currency changes are removed.Ralph Lauren is the comparison that matters most. It passed $8 billion for the first time, raised its quarterly dividend 10% to $1.00 and reported adjusted earnings of $16.59 a share, up from $12.33. PVH earned $11.40 adjusted on more revenue. Both sell premium logos, and we think Ralph Lauren is winning on pricing power and its own stores, while PVH relies more on wholesale and Europe.Gildan has changed the peer list. It completed its purchase of Hanesbrands on December 1, 2025 and expects 2026 revenue of $6.0 billion to $6.2 billion. Gildan sells basics, so it competes with Calvin Klein underwear more than with Tommy Hilfiger. G-III is a former licensee and now a rival, and it lost $254 million of sales as PVH reclaimed licenses.Profit margin is the better test. PVH guides to an 8.8% adjusted operating margin even after tariffs of about 215 basis points. We estimate the tariff cost alone at roughly $190 million on $8.95 billion of sales. A tariff refund of $107 million added $1.80 per share in the second quarter, and we do not expect it to repeat, so we would not carry that quarter's profit forward.We conclude that PVH is cheap for a reason: it has scale but not momentum. The market pays about 6.6 times earnings, and we would not call that wrong until sales growth returns.
Acquisitions
| Company Acquired | Deal Value | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy Hilfiger B.V. | $3.00B | 2010 | Global lifestyle brand bought from Apax Partners for EUR 2.2B in cash and stock plus assumed liabilities |
| Warnaco Group | $2.90B | 2013 | Gave PVH control of Calvin Klein jeans and underwear that it had licensed |
| Calvin Klein Inc | $430.0M | 2003 | Agreed in December 2002 for $400M cash and $30M of stock plus payments tied to future sales |
| Gazal Corporation | $88.0M | 2019 | Australian partner bought for A$124M for about 78% of its shares |
Acquisitions Analysis
Four deals with known prices total about $6.4 billion. Tommy Hilfiger B.V. cost $3.00 billion in 2010, Warnaco $2.90 billion in 2013, Calvin Klein $430 million in 2003 and Gazal about $88 million in 2019. The Gazal figure is our conversion of its A$124 million price at an assumed exchange rate of 0.71, for about 78% of the shares.Measured by revenue, two were clear successes. Tommy Hilfiger now produces $4.77 billion a year, about 1.6 times what PVH paid, and Calvin Klein produces $3.96 billion from a $430 million purchase. The Calvin Klein deal also included payments tied to future sales, which we could not find itemized. We therefore treat $430 million as a floor, not the full cost.Warnaco is harder to judge. It gave PVH direct control of Calvin Klein jeans and underwear, two categories it had licensed to others. The brand benefit is clear, but we cannot separate Warnaco's results from the rest of Calvin Klein.The costs are also visible. PVH recorded goodwill and intangible write downs of $480 million in the first quarter of 2025 and $439 million in the second quarter of 2026, a total of $919 million. That is about 26% of today's market value. We read it as a sign that the purchased brands now earn a lower return than the prices implied. Both charges came after the Warnaco and Tommy Hilfiger deals were more than a decade old, which suggests that brand values drift down slowly and are written off in lumps.Looking ahead, we do not expect another large deal. Debt of $2.30 billion and a $3.51 billion market value limit the room. We expect small moves, such as taking back regional licensees as with Gazal, because those raise sales without a big check. In our view the sensible use of cash is the buyback, since a $300 million repurchase at a price of about six times earnings has a clearer return than a new brand at a typical purchase multiple.
Acquisition Timeline
Merger & Spin-off History
Merger & Spin-off Analysis
Buying brands built PVH between 2003 and 2013, and selling brands has shaped it since. The largest sale was the 2021 transfer of the IZOD, Van Heusen, ARROW and Geoffrey Beene trademarks to Authentic Brands Group for about $220 million. In 2023 PVH sold the Warner's, Olga and True&Co. women's intimates businesses to Basic Resources. We found no price for that second sale.Those sales were small against the $5.9 billion paid for Tommy Hilfiger and Warnaco. We think that gap tells the story. Heritage Brands produced just $215.3 million of fiscal 2025 revenue, 2.4% of the total, and it now sells men's underwear under a Nike license and dress shirts under a Van Heusen license. PVH no longer owns those trademarks, so we expect a thinner return but less risk.The strategy is a simple one in our view. PVH has cut itself down to two brands, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, which supplied over 95% of revenue in fiscal 2025. Giving up the others frees management time and cash. The cost is concentration, because a weak year for either brand now hits the whole company.We also see PVH reversing the same logic with licensees. By ending G-III's women's licenses and buying Gazal in 2019, it is moving back in house work it once handed out. We would not call that a retreat from the two brand plan, but it adds inventory and cost.We do not expect a deal soon. No merger or spin off is pending in the records we reviewed. At $3.51 billion of market value, though, PVH could attract a private equity bid, which is the event we would watch. Any bidder would also take on $2.30 billion of debt, so we think it would need confidence in the Calvin Klein recovery.
Ownership History
Ownership History Analysis
About 145 years ago Moses and Endel Phillips began mending and selling shirts to coal miners in Pennsylvania, and we keep 1881 as the founding year. The business became Phillips-Jones Corporation in 1907 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1920. In 2011 it changed its name from Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation to PVH Corp. We treat that as a renaming of the same company, not a new one, because PVH's own timeline presents one continuing business with no new legal start. Had the 2011 change created a new legal entity, we would date the company from then, but we found no sign of that.Ownership has stayed public throughout. For 106 years shares have traded openly, and in 2026 we find no family or private equity firm in control. The five largest institutions hold about 54.6%, and we count that as concentrated but not controlling.What did change was the product. A shirtmaker bought Calvin Klein in 2003, Tommy Hilfiger in 2010 and Warnaco in 2013, and then sold its old labels. Revenue reached $8.95 billion in fiscal 2025, and employees numbered about 26,000, down from about 28,000 a year earlier. We think that is a clear sign of a company becoming leaner.Management changed too. Stefan Larsson became chief executive on January 1, 2021 and launched the PVH+ Plan, a multi year program that includes the Growth Driver 5 cost actions. We give him credit for growing revenue to $8.95 billion.The share price has not rewarded the history. At $75.80 it is about 28% below the $105.39 recorded in late 2024. Our view is that the company will need two clean years of growth before owners treat its long record as an asset again.
Ownership Explained
PVH Corp. is a publicly traded apparel company headquartered at 285 Madison Avenue in New York. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PVH, and no person or group controls it. About 46.1 million shares are outstanding, which at $75.80 gives a market value of about $3.51 billion in early October 2026.Institutions own nearly all of the stock. The most recent 13F filings, which are the quarterly holdings reports that large investment firms send to the SEC, show these positions. Divided by 46.14 million shares, they give FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity, 6.83 million shares or 14.8%, and Pzena Investment Management 5.99 million or 13.0%. Vanguard holds 4.79 million or 10.4%, BlackRock 4.48 million or 9.7%, and Dimensional Fund Advisors 3.09 million or 6.7%. Together those five hold about 54.6%. Data providers report slightly different figures because their filing dates differ, so these percentages are estimates. Directors and officers hold about 1%.Stefan Larsson has been chief executive officer since January 1, 2021. The business traces its origins to 1881, when Moses and Endel Phillips began mending and selling shirts to coal miners in Pennsylvania. It became Phillips-Jones Corporation in 1907, listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1920 and took the name PVH Corp. in 2011.PVH owns two brands, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, which together made over 95% of revenue in the year ended February 1, 2026. A small Heritage Brands business holds the remaining sales. The company reports in four segments: Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Licensing. It employs about 26,000 people in more than 40 countries and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0375 a share in 2025.
For wholesale customers and licensees, PVH is a company with no controlling owner, so its choices follow what the board and chief executive think is best for the business. The five largest wholesale customers made up 16.6% of 2025 revenue and have no long term purchase contracts. About 30 license agreements per brand let partners make products such as footwear, fragrance and eyewear. That mix matters because PVH has been taking some licensed women's categories back in house, and G-III Apparel Group sued PVH in 2025 for $250 million over the change.For employees, the company had about 26,000 associates on February 1, 2026, down from about 28,000 a year earlier. About 11,000 of them work part time, and 64% work in company operated retail. PVH booked $93 million of restructuring costs in 2025, so job changes are an ongoing part of its cost program. A second quarter 2026 sale of a warehouse produced a $25.4 million gain, which the company offset against $17 million of severance, so cost cutting continues into this year.For investors, the stock is cheap on adjusted profit but carries real risks. At $75.80 it trades at about 6.6 times fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings of $11.40 a share. GAAP earnings, which include one time charges, were only $0.52 because of a $480 million goodwill and intangible write down. Adjusted figures leave such charges out, so readers should look at both. Another $439 million write down followed in the second quarter of 2026, and the company posted a GAAP net loss of $102.9 million for that quarter.The dividend is small. At $0.15 a year it yields about 0.2%. The company instead returns cash by buying back shares: $561 million in 2025, none in the first half of 2026, and a stated plan for at least $300 million in 2026. Debt was $2.30 billion against $701.5 million of cash at year end, which limits how freely it can spend.