Independent Advisor Alliance Invests $481,000 in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 3,195 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 262.1% in the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 210 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 97.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 275 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total value of $1,302,084.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,038,546.36. This trade represents a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total value of $2,266,099.14. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 11,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,665.26. The trade was a 57.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $154.89 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.11. The firm has a market cap of $51.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.09. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.53 and a 1 year high of $163.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.3675 per share. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.15%.

About Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores under the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brand names in the United States. Its stores primarily offer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions. The company’s Ross Dress for Less stores sell its products at department and specialty stores to middle income households; and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores sell its products at department and discount stores for households with moderate income.