Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Receives $169.06 Average PT from Analysts

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $169.06.

ROST has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price (down previously from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $152.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.88. Ross Stores has a 52 week low of $127.53 and a 52 week high of $163.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $50.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.10.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.3675 per share. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.15%.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 115,849 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $17,524,000 after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 137.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,976,140 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $299,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,774 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 71,933 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $10,881,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 917.2% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 29,498 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,440,000 after purchasing an additional 26,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 251.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 260,126 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $39,152,000 after purchasing an additional 186,161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores under the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brand names in the United States. Its stores primarily offer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions. The company’s Ross Dress for Less stores sell its products at department and specialty stores to middle income households; and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores sell its products at department and discount stores for households with moderate income.