Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 31,290 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its stake in Ross Stores by 3.9%, selling 31,290 shares and now holds 774,791 shares (about 0.24%), valued at roughly $139.6 million.
• Ross beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $2.00 vs. $1.90 and revenue of $6.64 billion (+12.2% YoY), and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.445 ($1.78 annualized).
• Company insiders sold 25,756 shares in the past three months (including sales by the COO and CMO), yet Wall Street remains largely bullish with 16 Buy and 5 Hold ratings and an average target near $208.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 774,791 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 31,290 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.24% of Ross Stores worth $139,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Somerset Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 14,788 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Florida Trust Wealth Management Co now owns 3,399 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,337 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Ross Stores stock opened at $221.16 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $206.72 and a 200-day moving average of $184.01. The firm has a market cap of $71.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.92. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.49 and a 1-year high of $226.63.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The company had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Ross Stores's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Ross Stores's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. This trade represents a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.29.

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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