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

Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $208.2941.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ROST shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Ross Stores from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th.

Ross Stores Stock Down 0.8%

ROST opened at $214.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $200.16 and a 200-day moving average of $178.09. The company has a market capitalization of $69.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $124.07 and a fifty-two week high of $217.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The business had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.93%.

Insider Activity

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.91, for a total transaction of $546,753.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 103,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,234,874.95. This represents a 2.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,265,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,949,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,411,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new position in Ross Stores in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,790,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Ross Stores by 84.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 227,340 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $34,645,000 after buying an additional 104,270 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.