Loop Capital Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Stock Price

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Loop Capital from $175.00 to $170.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the apparel retailer's stock.

ROST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $168.00 to $163.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup raised Ross Stores from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $146.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $158.67.

Ross Stores Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:ROST traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $140.16. 1,473,970 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,701,193. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60. The company has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.93.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The apparel retailer reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.94 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. Ross Stores's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ross Stores's payout ratio is 25.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 5,339 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.73, for a total transaction of $671,272.47. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 94,063 shares in the company, valued at $11,826,540.99. The trade was a 5.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 11,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 59,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,868,364. This represents a 15.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,439,950 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ross Stores

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $4,360,413,000 after buying an additional 4,946,101 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,515,891 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $2,952,170,000 after buying an additional 3,995,760 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,162 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $1,250,423,000 after purchasing an additional 135,117 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,620,083 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $1,152,690,000 after acquiring an additional 807,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth approximately $649,318,000. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company's stock.

Ross Stores Company 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.