S Bank Fund Management Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

S Bank Fund Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,085 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. S Bank Fund Management Ltd’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $6,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,762,583 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,487,720,000 after purchasing an additional 180,182 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP increased its stake in Ross Stores by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 4,747,639 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $605,704,000 after buying an additional 426,370 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,655,932 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $709,518,000 after buying an additional 252,284 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Ross Stores by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,045,346 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $616,470,000 after buying an additional 375,470 shares during the period. Finally, Marshfield Associates boosted its position in Ross Stores by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 4,020,413 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $612,671,000 after buying an additional 157,385 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total value of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,147.67. The trade was a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $227.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $73.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.87. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.49 and a 52-week high of $230.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $216.03 and its 200 day moving average is $191.74.

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

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ROST shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Zacks Research lowered Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group set a $208.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.06.

About Ross Stores

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.