Royal Bank of Canada Sells 130,703 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its Ross Stores stake by 5.6%, selling 130,703 shares and retaining 2.21 million shares valued at approximately $479.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.86% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Ross Stores receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $233.18, despite one recent downgrade from Wells Fargo to “equal weight.”
• Ross Stores exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.02 in EPS and $6.01 billion in revenue, up 20.6% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, or $1.78 annualized.

Royal Bank of Canada cut its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,212,512 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 130,703 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.69% of Ross Stores worth $479,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROST. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in Ross Stores by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,309 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 954 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co now owns 3,399 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP increased its holdings in Ross Stores by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 1,421 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Ross Stores from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $245.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.18.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $251.03 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $227.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.54. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.37 and a 52-week high of $252.09. The stock has a market cap of $80.53 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. The firm's quarterly 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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