QV Investors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

QV Investors Inc. grew its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,690 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 210 shares during the quarter. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $3,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 1st quarter worth about $630,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ross Stores by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,149 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 59.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,591 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,843 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,476,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,734 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.33.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $156.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.18. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.36 and a 1-year high of $158.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.79.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is currently 25.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.76, for a total transaction of $607,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 106,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,149,236.88. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total value of $437,131.88. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 88,335 shares in the company, valued at $13,169,865.15. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,720 shares of company stock valued at $7,761,212. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.