Jupiter Topco LLC Takes $7.60 Million Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 35,741 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $7,604,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 23,772 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,282,000 after buying an additional 4,847 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Ross Stores by 138.4% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,300,056 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $234,192,000 after buying an additional 754,816 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth about $204,750,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Ross Stores by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 136,426 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $24,576,000 after acquiring an additional 33,995 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 744.8% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 211,676 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,131,000 after acquiring an additional 186,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $260.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Ross Stores from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Ross Stores from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.76.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $228.55 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $143.39 and a 52-week high of $257.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $233.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.66. The stock has a market cap of $73.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.86.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.16 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 39.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.55%.

Ross Stores Company 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.