Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Telsey Advisory Group

Telsey Advisory Group restated their outperform rating on shares of Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $240.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ROST. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group set a $208.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $214.30 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.09. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $124.07 and a fifty-two week high of $217.51. The company has a market capitalization of $69.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 26.93%.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,147.67. This trade represents a 46.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.91, for a total transaction of $546,753.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 103,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,234,874.95. This represents a 2.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $1,782,873,000 after purchasing an additional 61,168 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,762,583 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,487,720,000 after buying an additional 180,182 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,436,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $979,384,000 after buying an additional 79,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth $868,360,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 9.9% in the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 4,747,639 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $605,704,000 after acquiring an additional 426,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

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.