Westpac Banking Corp Lowers Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Westpac Banking Corp lessened its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 62.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,256 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 2,122 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 13,227 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,001,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Private Portfolio Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 77.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,262 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 278.7% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,040 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after buying an additional 6,653 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 45,476 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $6,879,000 after buying an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup raised Ross Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $146.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped 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. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Ross Stores from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.48, for a total value of $657,097.28. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,400,425.20. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Karen Fleming sold 5,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.73, for a total transaction of $671,272.47. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 94,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,826,540.99. This trade represents a 5.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,439,950 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $130.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.15. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.36 and a twelve month high of $163.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.07.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. The firm 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 25.63%.

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.