77,165 Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 77,165 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $16,114,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ROST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $294.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.76.

Ross Stores Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $228.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $233.95 and a 200-day moving average of $223.45. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $143.39 and a 52 week high of $257.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.71. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 39.29% and a net margin of 10.85%.The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.55%.

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.