Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys Shares of 138,825 Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 138,825 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $29,549,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the second quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $290.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, August 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ross Stores from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $294.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.76.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Ross Stores stock opened at $228.55 on Friday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $143.39 and a fifty-two week high of $257.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $73.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $233.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.45.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.16 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 39.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.55%.

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.