Venturi Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Key Points

• Venturi Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. by 42.7%, selling 2,101 shares to hold a total of 2,820 shares worth approximately $360,000.
• Despite the reduction by Venturi, other hedge funds increased their positions in Ross Stores, with notable rises from Slow Capital Inc. and DAVENPORT & Co LLC.
• Analysts have generally positive outlooks for Ross Stores, marking a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a target price averaging $160.67, following upward adjustments by several firms.

Venturi Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 42.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,820 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after selling 2,101 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Ross Stores were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Slow Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 63,000 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $8,038,000 after acquiring an additional 2,804 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 118,944 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $15,175,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,995 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 8,547 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ROST shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $160.67.

Ross Stores Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ROST stock opened at $147.71 on Friday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $158.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $148.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $48.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Ross Stores's payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other news, CEO James Grant Conroy sold 39,351 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $5,745,246.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 157,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,944,338. The trade was a 20.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total transaction of $971,793.89. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 57,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,607,101.64. The trade was a 10.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,720 shares of company stock worth $7,761,212. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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