Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) CEO James Grant Conroy Sells 39,351 Shares

Key Points

• CEO James Grant Conroy of Ross Stores sold 39,351 shares at an average price of $146.00, totaling approximately $5.75 million, which reduced his ownership by 20.03%.
• Ross Stores reported earnings per share of $1.56 for the last quarter, slightly beating expectations, while the company's revenue increased by 4.6% year-over-year to $5.53 billion.
• The retail company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, with a yield of 1.1%, set to be paid on September 30th.

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) CEO James Grant Conroy sold 39,351 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $5,745,246.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 157,153 shares in the company, valued at $22,944,338. The trade was a 20.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST stock traded up $2.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $151.52. 2,259,874 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,078,944. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $158.69. The stock's fifty day moving average is $145.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.81. 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 $49.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Ross Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.71%.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the first quarter worth $328,000. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the first quarter worth $1,476,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the first quarter worth $630,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ross Stores by 50.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,149 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its position in Ross Stores by 7.0% during the first quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 680,994 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $87,024,000 after acquiring an additional 44,437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ROST shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ross Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.67.

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.

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