Cerity Partners LLC Buys 25,177 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 21.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,173 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,177 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $21,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,303 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Ross Stores by 0.6% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 12,032 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,535,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Ross Stores by 1.4% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,707 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,876 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $221.00 price target on Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.41.

Ross Stores Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $191.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $175.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.52. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $192.26.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.20. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.75% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.31%.

Ross Stores Profile

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.