Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 38,689,669 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,488 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Ross Stores worth $6,969,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 39.9% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after buying an additional 7,951 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ross Stores by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,581 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 2,792 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 150,491 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $19,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 12,580 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ROST. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 26th. UBS Group set a $208.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $226.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $72.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $213.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.15. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.49 and a 1-year high of $230.44.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The business had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. This trade represents a 11.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Company Profile

Ross Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) is an American off‑price retailer headquartered in Dublin, California, that operates the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS store formats. The company sells a broad assortment of apparel, footwear, home fashions, accessories and other soft goods, positioning itself as a value-oriented destination for brand‑name and fashion merchandise at reduced prices.

Ross’s business model centers on opportunistic buying of excess inventory, closeouts, cancelled orders and overstocks from manufacturers, department stores and other suppliers.