Bath Savings Trust Co Sells 115 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Bath Savings Trust Co cut its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,988 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 2.2% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,217 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,647,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,741 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,416,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 66.2% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 24,127 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,506,000 after acquiring an additional 9,610 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 318.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 359,538 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $52,235,000 after acquiring an additional 273,545 shares during the period. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.29.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock traded down $2.72 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.23. The stock had a trading volume of 988,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,601,378. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year high of $163.60. The firm has a market cap of $50.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $148.44 and its 200-day moving average is $147.55.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.15%.

Ross Stores 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.