Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 2,200 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,000 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $6,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 115,849 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $17,524,000 after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 137.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,976,140 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $299,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,774 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in Ross Stores by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 71,933 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $10,881,000 after buying an additional 3,981 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Ross Stores by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 44,822 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $6,780,000 after buying an additional 4,334 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 917.2% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 29,498 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,440,000 after buying an additional 26,598 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target (down from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.06.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $141.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $46.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $127.53 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.01.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ross Stores’s dividend 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.