Boston Partners Lowers Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Boston Partners reduced its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,363,022 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 225,543 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 0.42% of Ross Stores worth $173,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 14.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,998,924,000 after buying an additional 5,060,954 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,055,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $518,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,815 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the 1st quarter valued at about $122,043,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 184.4% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,080,532 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $138,081,000 after purchasing an additional 700,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $68,664,000. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $177.69 on Thursday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $178.09. The company has a market cap of $57.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.57.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 37.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. Ross Stores has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.380-6.46 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.770-1.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 25.31%.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In related news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total value of $437,131.88. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 88,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,169,865.15. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total value of $971,793.89. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 57,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,607,101.64. This represents a 10.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 52,720 shares of company stock valued at $7,761,212 over the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ROST shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $163.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Ross Stores from $147.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.07.

Ross Stores Company Profile

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.