Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 4,820,473 Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,820,473 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $868,360,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 7,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 142 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 1,080.0% during the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 89.0% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Ross Stores stock opened at $231.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $221.49 and its 200 day moving average is $199.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.49 and a 52-week high of $237.41.

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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.86%.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at $460,147.67. This trade represents a 46.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004 over the last 90 days. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.18.

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.