3,122 Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Bought by Caerus Investment Advisors LLC

Caerus Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,122 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $476,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 65,810 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $10,029,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,122,000. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 3.9% during the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 5,932 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 37.2% in the third quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 111,138 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $16,936,000 after acquiring an additional 30,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 0.4% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 407,593 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $61,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. Telsey Advisory Group raised Ross Stores from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently 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 $207.22 on Thursday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.36 and a 52 week high of $216.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $197.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $67.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.93%.

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.