J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. Buys Shares of 2,284 Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,284 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $411,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at about $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth about $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 1,908.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $276,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,222,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,167,479 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $570,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,611 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ROST. Zacks Research raised shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $257.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Ross Stores from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.18.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $232.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.68 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.86. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $124.49 and a one year high of $242.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $226.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.35.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 116,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. This trade represents a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

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.