PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab Invests $2.73 Million in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 15,049 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,731,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 7,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 142 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth about $26,000. City Holding Co. raised its stake in Ross Stores by 1,080.0% in the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ross Stores by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ROST shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $208.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.06.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $226.02 on Tuesday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.49 and a fifty-two week high of $230.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.24. The company has a market capitalization of $72.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.58.

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

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 26.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,147.67. This trade represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,935,577.48. This represents a 11.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004. 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.