Evergreen Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 161.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,571 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,441 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the third quarter valued at about $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Ross Stores by 1,908.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $276,857,000 after buying an additional 1,726,324 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,222,523,000 after buying an additional 1,657,008 shares during the period. Scopus Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the second quarter valued at about $102,281,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP boosted its position in Ross Stores by 184.6% during the third quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 968,290 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $147,558,000 after buying an additional 628,042 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $199.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.29.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $226.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $73.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $212.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.49 and a 12 month high of $230.44.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is currently 26.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,147.67. This trade represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004. Insiders own 2.10% 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.