Balefire LLC Cuts Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Balefire LLC lowered its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 78.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,409 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 12,581 shares during the quarter. Balefire LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,815 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,600,567 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $393,388,000 after purchasing an additional 257,471 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in Ross Stores by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,661 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,260,515 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $190,678,000 after buying an additional 358,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $128,000. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 5,270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.70, for a total value of $672,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 93,126 shares in the company, valued at $11,892,190.20. This trade represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 11,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.60, for a total transaction of $1,481,947.60. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 59,790 shares in the company, valued at $7,868,364. The trade was a 15.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,567 shares of company stock worth $2,812,024. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ROST. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup raised shares of Ross Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $146.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $168.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.53.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $127.28 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.11. The stock has a market cap of $41.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.14. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.36 and a twelve month high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The apparel retailer reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.03. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.79% and a return on equity of 38.77%. The firm had revenue of $4.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.59%.

Ross Stores Profile

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.