Ascent Group LLC Raises Stake in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 34.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,785 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $2,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Somerset Trust Co lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 14,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ross Stores by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $194,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.3% during the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 20,114 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,065,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Finivi Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 4.2% during the third quarter. Finivi Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ROST shares. UBS Group set a $208.00 price target on Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research cut Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, January 9th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.29.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $219.98 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $70.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $203.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.36. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.36 and a 52-week high of $222.03.

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

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 26.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 value of $400,897.53. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 in the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.