Forsta AP Fonden Has $12.29 Million Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden cut its Ross Stores stake by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 13,600 shares and ending with 68,229 shares valued at about $12.29 million.
• Ross Stores reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.02 beating estimates and revenue of $6.01 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 20.6% year over year.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $233.18.

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,229 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 13,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Ross Stores were worth $12,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 4th quarter valued at about $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Ross Stores during the third quarter worth about $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings 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 worth $276,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726,324 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings 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 worth $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter valued at $204,750,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ROST shares. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.18.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $231.73 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $124.49 and a one year high of $237.41. The company has a market cap of $74.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.79.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Research analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores's payout ratio is currently 24.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, 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 transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 over the last three months. 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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