Caerus Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Caerus Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,122 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $476,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in Ross Stores by 39.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after buying an additional 7,951 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 70,884 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $9,043,000 after acquiring an additional 5,540 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 15,649 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,451 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Down 0.9%

ROST opened at $207.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $197.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.64. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.36 and a 1-year high of $216.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The business had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ROST. UBS Group set a $208.00 price target on Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Evercore upped their target price on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $221.00 target price on Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.91, for a total transaction of $546,753.96. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 103,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,234,874.95. The trade was a 2.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.