Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Shares Acquired by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,406 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,941 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $15,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 5,060,954 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ross Stores by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,974,551 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,782,873,000 after purchasing an additional 61,168 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,268,700 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,310,081,000 after purchasing an additional 51,765 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,673,823 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,102,077,000 after purchasing an additional 133,005 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Evercore raised their price target on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Guggenheim raised shares of Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.94.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $201.45 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.36 and a 52 week high of $203.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $65.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $188.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.24.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The business 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 9.47% and a return on equity of 36.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.