West Family Investments Inc. Invests $765,000 in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

West Family Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,592 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 18.1% in the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 5,722 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,966 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,038,000. Amundi raised its stake in Ross Stores by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,906,630 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $405,826,000 after purchasing an additional 50,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Grp LLC raised its stake in Ross Stores by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Grp LLC now owns 12,454 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ ROST traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $229.31. 2,607,637 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,731,293. The business’s 50 day moving average is $235.28 and its 200-day moving average is $225.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.61. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $143.39 and a 12-month high of $257.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.85.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ROST shares. Evercore set a $290.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $262.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.76.

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.