Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes $741,000 Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,898 shares of the apparel retailer's stock, valued at approximately $741,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ROST. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 152.9% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 11,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.60, for a total transaction of $1,481,947.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 59,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,868,364. This represents a 15.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.48, for a total transaction of $657,097.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,365 shares in the company, valued at $14,400,425.20. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,439,950 in the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST traded up $1.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $152.92. 2,064,967 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,647,854. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.36 and a 12-month high of $163.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $50.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.08, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.17.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This is a boost from Ross Stores's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ROST. Citigroup raised Ross Stores from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $146.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $166.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $161.53.

Ross Stores 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.