Black Diamond Financial LLC Acquires 393 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Black Diamond Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,813 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 393 shares during the quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. C WorldWide Group Holding A S bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth $2,023,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in Ross Stores by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 52,209 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $7,898,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,589 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,451,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 128,923 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $19,502,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 46,990 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $7,108,000 after buying an additional 24,201 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ROST. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.06.

Ross Stores Price Performance

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $136.61 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.53 and a 52-week high of $163.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $147.93 and a 200 day moving average of $147.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.