Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Shares Purchased by E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 24,100.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 484 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 482 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $73,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 1.8% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 3,910 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Ross Stores by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 473 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,735 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ROST shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.06.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Ross Stores stock opened at $149.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company has a market capitalization of $49.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.93. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.53 and a 1 year high of $163.60.

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

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 23.15%.

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.