Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Shares Sold by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management cut its Ross Stores stake by 43.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 47,162 shares and leaving it with 60,338 shares valued at about $10.9 million.
• Ross Stores recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $2.02 EPS on $6.01 billion in revenue, with revenue up 20.6% year over year. The company also issued FY2026 EPS guidance of 7.50 to 7.74.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $233.18, while shares recently traded near their 52-week high at $234.49.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 43.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,338 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 47,162 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $10,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 7,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 142 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. City Holding Co. lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1,080.0% during the 4th quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.18.

Ross Stores Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ROST opened at $234.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.37. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.49 and a 1-year high of $242.81. The stock has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total value of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ROST? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.