Night Squared LP Increases Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Night Squared LP raised its holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 163.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,442 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 13,312 shares during the period. Night Squared LP’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $3,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,998,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060,954 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the second quarter valued at approximately $521,159,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Ross Stores by 1,908.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $276,857,000 after buying an additional 1,726,324 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 30.1% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,669,876 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $468,203,000 after buying an additional 849,391 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.91, for a total transaction of $546,753.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 103,945 shares in the company, valued at $22,234,874.95. This trade represents a 2.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total value 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. The trade was a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ROST. Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 target price on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $206.28 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.22. 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 firm has a market cap of $66.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.97. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.36 and a 52 week high of $216.80.

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 for 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. Equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 24.51%.

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.