Donoghue Forlines LLC Invests $2.27 Million in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,605 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,271,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ethic Inc. boosted its position in Ross Stores by 25.6% in 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 in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,411,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,790,000. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,542,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Ross Stores by 84.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 227,340 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $34,645,000 after buying an additional 104,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ROST. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at $460,147.67. The trade was a 46.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total value of $1,174,980.40. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $213.27 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.85. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.49 and a 12-month high of $231.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The business had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.93%.

Ross Stores 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.