First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,694,269 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 212,991 shares during the period. Ross Stores comprises 0.6% of First Trust Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $800,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,360,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $276,857,000 after buying an additional 1,726,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,222,523,000 after buying an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,167,479 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $570,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,611 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth $204,750,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $235.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $225.00 and a 200 day moving average of $212.91. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.14 and a fifty-two week high of $242.81.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $257.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.18.

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.