Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ross Stores has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 16 buy ratings and 5 hold ratings among 21 analysts. The average 12-month price target is about $213.29.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, reporting EPS of $2.00 versus $1.90 expected and revenue of $6.64 billion versus $6.42 billion forecast. Revenue rose 12.2% year over year.
• Ross Stores also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.445 per share, or $1.78 annually, while institutional ownership remains very high at 86.86%. Several insiders sold shares recently, including the CMO and COO.

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $213.2941.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price target on Ross Stores in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd.

Ross Stores Trading Down 0.2%

Ross Stores stock opened at $212.75 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $218.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $68.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.87. Ross Stores has a 12 month low of $124.49 and a 12 month high of $231.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total value of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ross Stores

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ROST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Ross Stores by 1,908.8% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $276,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,222,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP grew its position in Ross Stores by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,167,479 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $570,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,611 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Company 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.

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