Donoghue Forlines LLC Makes New Investment in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC initiated a new position in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter, buying 12,605 shares valued at about $2.27 million.
• Ross Stores continues to draw strong Wall Street support, with multiple analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a $213.29 average target.
• The retailer posted a solid quarter, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.445 per share from $0.41.

Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 12,605 shares of the apparel retailer's stock, valued at approximately $2,271,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Somerset Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 14,788 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $2,664,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,309 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co now owns 3,399 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Composition Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROST has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $240.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $213.29.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.7%

ROST stock opened at $213.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $218.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.85. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.49 and a 52 week high of $231.16. The company has a market capitalization of $68.70 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $6.64 billion for 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%. Ross Stores's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the 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 sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

Ross Stores Profile

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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