Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group cut its Ross Stores stake by 22.2% in the first quarter, selling 466,566 shares and ending with 1,631,393 shares valued at about $353.4 million.
• Ross Stores posted a strong earnings beat, reporting $2.02 EPS versus the $1.73 estimate and $6.01 billion in revenue, while also raising guidance for FY2026 and Q2 2026.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $233.18, even as the shares traded down about 1.5% to $219.46.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 22.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,631,393 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 466,566 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.51% of Ross Stores worth $353,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,911,953 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $2,506,099,000 after purchasing an additional 99,975 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during 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 buying an additional 180,182 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Ross Stores by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,436,788 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $979,384,000 after buying an additional 79,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $868,360,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP boosted its position in Ross Stores by 9.9% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ROST. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Truist Financial increased 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ross Stores from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.18.

Ross Stores Trading Down 1.5%

Ross Stores stock opened at $219.46 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $224.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.79. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.32 and a 12 month high of $242.81. The company has a market capitalization of $70.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company's revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores's payout ratio is 24.86%.

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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