Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys Shares of 107,500 Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 107,500 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $16,382,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Louisbourg Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 54.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 30,235 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,857,000 after acquiring an additional 10,625 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Ross Stores by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 11,676 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,109 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,265,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the second quarter worth approximately $7,949,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 34.5% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 22,964 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,499,000 after purchasing an additional 5,889 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $192.32 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $62.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.52. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.36 and a 52-week high of $194.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.23.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 36.75%. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Ross Stores has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.380-6.46 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.770-1.85 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 25.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ROST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $221.00 price target on Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $188.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.41.

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.