Alkeon Capital Management LLC Sells 240,000 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Alkeon Capital Management cut its Ross Stores stake by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 240,000 shares and leaving it with 472,635 shares valued at about $85.1 million.
• Ross Stores reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.02 beating estimates and revenue of $6.01 billion topping expectations, while revenue rose 20.6% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, and analysts remain generally positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and several price targets raised as high as $290.

Alkeon Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 33.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 472,635 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 240,000 shares during the quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Ross Stores worth $85,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $661,000. TritonPoint Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $275,000. USS Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Ross Stores by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 63,662 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $11,471,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Ross Stores by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 49,041 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $8,834,000 after acquiring an additional 5,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 610.2% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 269,392 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $48,528,000 after acquiring an additional 231,458 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $236.77 on Tuesday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.49 and a 1 year high of $242.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores's payout ratio is 24.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ROST. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Ross Stores from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $248.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.18.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was 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 owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 116,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,935,577.48. This trade represents a 11.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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