NorthRock Partners LLC Grows Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,260 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,360,413,000 after buying an additional 4,946,101 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,055,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $518,200,000 after buying an additional 1,509,815 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ross Stores by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,997,575 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $510,850,000 after buying an additional 192,148 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,912,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $372,134,000 after buying an additional 15,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,017,638 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $257,834,000 after buying an additional 45,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $146.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.33.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $155.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $122.36 and a one year high of $158.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $149.10 and a 200 day moving average of $141.27.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In related news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 4,000 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.76, for a total value of $607,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 106,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,149,236.88. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total value of $437,131.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 88,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,169,865.15. The trade was a 3.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,720 shares of company stock worth $7,761,212. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.