Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Shares Sold by Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC cut its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,654 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.8% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 3,910 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Alhambra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc raised its position in Ross Stores by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 662 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,105 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.3% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 31,460 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,735,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ROST. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “negative” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ross Stores from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Ross Stores from $168.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.40.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $132.37 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.32. The company has a market capitalization of $43.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.36 and a 12-month high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 25.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 5,270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.70, for a total transaction of $672,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 93,126 shares in the company, valued at $11,892,190.20. This represents a 5.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 7,492 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.69, for a total transaction of $956,653.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 139,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,760,529.79. The trade was a 5.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,101 shares of company stock worth $2,300,905. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

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.