PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab Buys New Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Ross Stores in Q4, acquiring 15,049 shares valued at about $2.73 million.
• Ross beat quarterly estimates with $2.00 EPS (vs. $1.90 expected) and $6.64 billion revenue, up 12.2% year-over-year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.445 ($1.78 annual).
• Institutional investors own 86.86% of the stock while insiders sold roughly 25,756 shares (~$5.52M) over the past 90 days; analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $212.06.

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,049 shares of the apparel retailer's stock, valued at approximately $2,731,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Ross Stores by 1.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,762,583 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $1,487,720,000 after acquiring an additional 180,182 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP increased its stake in Ross Stores by 9.9% in the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 4,747,639 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $605,704,000 after acquiring an additional 426,370 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 5.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,655,932 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $709,518,000 after acquiring an additional 252,284 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Ross Stores by 10.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,045,346 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $616,470,000 after acquiring an additional 375,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates increased its stake in Ross Stores by 4.1% in the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 4,020,413 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $612,671,000 after acquiring an additional 157,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $226.02 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $215.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.49 and a 12-month high of $230.44. The firm has a market cap of $72.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The business had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ROST shares. Barclays increased their target price on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $208.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $212.06.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004. Company 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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