Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 60.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 828,300 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 313,169 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $105,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 14.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,998,924,000 after buying an additional 5,060,954 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,268,700 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,310,081,000 after buying an additional 51,765 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,673,823 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,102,077,000 after acquiring an additional 133,005 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at about $521,159,000. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Ross Stores by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,055,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $518,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,815 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $178.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.50. The company has a market capitalization of $57.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.03. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $178.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.21% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. Ross Stores has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.380-6.46 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.770-1.85 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.31%.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In related news, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total transaction of $971,793.89. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 57,012 shares in the company, valued at $8,607,101.64. This trade represents a 10.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total transaction of $437,131.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 88,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,169,865.15. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,720 shares of company stock worth $7,154,172. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.73.

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.