Jennison Associates LLC Acquires 164,055 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 1,218.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 177,524 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 164,055 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $38,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 23,772 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,847 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 61.1% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 45,043 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $8,114,000 after purchasing an additional 17,090 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 138.4% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,300,056 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $234,192,000 after purchasing an additional 754,816 shares during the last quarter. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,542,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,750,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, July 6th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.18.

Ross Stores Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $235.78 on Tuesday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $130.49 and a one year high of $242.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $75.63 billion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.52.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. The firm 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 was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

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

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.