Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Acquires 41,355 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 145,031 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 41,355 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $30,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the second quarter valued at about $41,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ROST. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $260.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $245.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $231.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.76.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST opened at $228.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $233.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.45. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $143.39 and a 12-month high of $257.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.86.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.16 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 39.29% and a net margin of 10.85%.Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

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

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.