Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New $29.55 Million Investment in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 138,825 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $29,549,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,938,711,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ross Stores by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,911,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,506,099,000 after purchasing an additional 99,975 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in Ross Stores in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,937,995,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,436,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $979,384,000 after purchasing an additional 79,519 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.76.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $228.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.61. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $143.39 and a fifty-two week high of $257.00. The firm has a market cap of $73.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $233.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.45.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 39.29% and a net margin of 10.85%.The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 21.55%.

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.