Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Stock Holdings Lessened by Headlands Technologies LLC

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies LLC reduced its stake in Ross Stores by 10.2%, now holding 40,849 shares valued at $5.22 million after selling 4,627 shares.
• Analysts have mixed sentiments on Ross Stores, with target prices from Barclays and Morgan Stanley adjusting slightly downward, while Jefferies upgraded their rating to buy, raising the target price to $150.
• Ross Stores reported a quarterly EPS of $1.47, exceeding estimates, with revenues up 2.6% year-over-year at $4.98 billion, alongside announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.405.

Headlands Technologies LLC cut its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,849 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 4,627 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC's holdings in Ross Stores were worth $5,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 274.3% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,466 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $3,096,000 after buying an additional 14,998 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,276,799 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $193,141,000 after acquiring an additional 377,554 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ross Stores during the first quarter valued at $328,000. Aurdan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at $8,516,000. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the first quarter valued at about $1,476,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROST has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on Ross Stores from $157.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ross Stores from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $159.06.

Ross Stores Stock Up 3.4%

Ross Stores stock opened at $146.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $134.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.41. The firm has a market cap of $47.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.11.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The apparel retailer reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.03. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.77% and a net margin of 9.79%. The business had revenue of $4.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.59%.

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.

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