Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 119.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,184 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,126 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $12,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $248.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.18.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $251.96 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.33. The company has a market capitalization of $80.82 billion, a PE ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.87. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.37 and a twelve month high of $255.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.86%.

Ross Stores 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.