Gradient Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Gradient Investments LLC trimmed its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 36.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,848 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 3,851 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ROST. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,911,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,506,099,000 after purchasing an additional 99,975 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 20.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,436,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $979,384,000 after buying an additional 79,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth $868,360,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 4,747,639 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $605,704,000 after acquiring an additional 426,370 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ROST. Morgan Stanley set a $231.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $257.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.12.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $255.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.54. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $143.39 and a 52-week high of $257.00. The company has a market capitalization of $81.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $231.66 and its 200 day moving average is $218.31.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm’s revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 24.86%.

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.