Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 21.2% in April to 6,592,312 shares (about 2.1% of shares), leaving a short-interest ratio of roughly 3.0 days.
• Major institutional buying occurred recently — notably Norges Bank opened a ~$868.4M position and other firms (Holocene, Marshall Wace, BofA, Viking) materially increased stakes — and institutions now own 86.86% of the stock.
• Insiders have been net sellers, disposing of 25,756 shares worth about $5.52M in the past 90 days (including sales by a director and the CMO), while insiders retain 2.10% ownership.

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,592,312 shares, a decrease of 21.2% from the March 31st total of 8,363,879 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,220,768 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total value of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth approximately $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth approximately $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ROST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $221.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Ross Stores from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.06.

Ross Stores Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:ROST traded up $2.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $227.56. 445,807 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,457,228. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.92. Ross Stores has a 52 week low of $124.49 and a 52 week high of $230.44. The firm's 50 day moving average is $214.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ross Stores will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

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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