OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Decreases Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp decreased its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 2.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 81,598 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 2,021 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $10,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ross Stores by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,360,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,946,101 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 5.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,997,575 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $510,850,000 after purchasing an additional 192,148 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,572,823 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $540,461,000 after acquiring an additional 386,838 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,336,312 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $504,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,912,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $372,134,000 after acquiring an additional 15,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of ROST opened at $150.29 on Thursday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.36 and a 12-month high of $158.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $137.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 37.37%. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.00.

Ross Stores Company 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.