Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Buys 2,843 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ross Stores by 59.9% during the second quarter, owning 7,591 shares valued at approximately $968,000.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Ross Stores, with Wells Fargo increasing it from $165.00 to $175.00 and a consensus target price now set at $160.67.
• Ross Stores has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, with the ex-dividend date on September 9th, which represents an annualized yield of 1.1%.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 59.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,591 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 2,843 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Ross Stores were worth $968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% in the first quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,458 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 3.8% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,932 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 50.7% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 217 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,474 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 6.1% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 4,000 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.76, for a total transaction of $607,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 106,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,149,236.88. This trade represents a 3.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROST traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $144.29. 182,866 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,072,844. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.15. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $144.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.58. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $158.69.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ROST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.67.

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.