Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $169.71.

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Gordon Haskett raised Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $7,524,868.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares in the company, valued at $48,003,532.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ross Stores news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 11,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total value of $7,524,868.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,003,532.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 888 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 251 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 4.0% in the second quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,673 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kintegral Advisory LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 3.0% during the second quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 2,943 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $151.56 on Monday. Ross Stores has a twelve month low of $109.19 and a twelve month high of $163.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.27.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The apparel retailer reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.25 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 42.43% and a net margin of 9.82%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.