Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 38,615 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 79.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,235 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 38,615 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $18,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at about $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter valued at about $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 1,908.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $276,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726,324 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 20.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares during the period. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,167,479 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $570,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143,611 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $213.43 on Friday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $126.32 and a fifty-two week high of $242.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $225.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $68.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.47 EPS. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on ROST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $257.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.18.

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.