Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Shares Sold by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR trimmed its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 53.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,538 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 17,791 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $2,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,998,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060,954 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,974,551 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,782,873,000 after purchasing an additional 61,168 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.6% in 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 buying an additional 133,005 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 target price on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Ross Stores from $164.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other news, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total transaction of $971,793.89. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 57,012 shares in the company, valued at $8,607,101.64. This represents a 10.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ross Stores Stock Up 1.4%

ROST stock opened at $182.74 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $172.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.01. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $122.36 and a one year high of $185.85.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.38 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.75% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

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

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.