Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Holdings Raised by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,330 shares of the apparel retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 2,869 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Ross Stores were worth $3,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,058,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth $103,100,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth $236,000. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth $6,416,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ross Stores by 571.3% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 188,698 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $28,544,000 after buying an additional 160,590 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 5,270 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.70, for a total transaction of $672,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 93,126 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,892,190.20. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,036 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.48, for a total value of $657,097.28. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,400,425.20. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,398 shares of company stock worth $4,439,950 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ROST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $166.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $130.00 to $128.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays set a $150.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $160.73.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock traded down $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $142.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,727,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,655,966. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $46.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.31. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60.

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

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This is a positive change from Ross Stores's previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio is 25.63%.

About Ross Stores

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.