Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.41 Per Share

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of 0.405 per share by the apparel retailer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Ross Stores has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years. Ross Stores has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ross Stores to earn $6.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.0%.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROST traded down $0.84 on Tuesday, hitting $135.97. The stock had a trading volume of 4,094,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,443,926. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.78. The stock has a market cap of $44.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10. Ross Stores has a 52-week low of $127.53 and a 52-week high of $163.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ross Stores will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.06.

About Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores under the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brand names in the United States. Its stores primarily offer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions. The company’s Ross Dress for Less stores sell its products at department and specialty stores to middle income households; and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores sell its products at department and discount stores for households with moderate income.