Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Lowers Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. has reduced its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. by 8.6%, selling 1,670,294 shares in the first quarter, now holding 17,845,597 shares worth approximately $2.28 billion.
• Other institutional investors like Vanguard Group Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada increased their stakes, indicating strong institutional confidence in the company.
• Ross Stores reported earnings of $1.47 EPS for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, and has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.405 to be paid on September 30th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,845,597 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 1,670,294 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 5.43% of Ross Stores worth $2,280,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $4,360,413,000 after acquiring an additional 4,946,101 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,997,575 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $510,850,000 after purchasing an additional 192,148 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Ross Stores by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,572,823 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $540,461,000 after purchasing an additional 386,838 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Ross Stores by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,336,312 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $504,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,912,392 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $372,134,000 after purchasing an additional 15,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $156.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.00.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,736,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,963,767. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.11. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.36 and a twelve month high of $163.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $136.10 and a 200 day moving average of $137.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 37.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Ross Stores Company Profile

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.