E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Has $520,000 Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 1,044.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,735 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,496 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the third quarter worth approximately $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Ross Stores by 1,908.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $276,857,000 after buying an additional 1,726,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Ross Stores by 20.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,523,000 after buying an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ross Stores during the second quarter worth approximately $102,281,000. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP increased its position in Ross Stores by 184.6% during the third quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 968,290 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $147,558,000 after buying an additional 628,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total transaction of $400,897.53. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.29.

Ross Stores Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of ROST stock opened at $211.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $68.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $218.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.45. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.49 and a 1 year high of $231.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.93%.

About Ross Stores

Ross Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) is an American off‑price retailer headquartered in Dublin, California, that operates the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS store formats. The company sells a broad assortment of apparel, footwear, home fashions, accessories and other soft goods, positioning itself as a value-oriented destination for brand‑name and fashion merchandise at reduced prices.

Ross’s business model centers on opportunistic buying of excess inventory, closeouts, cancelled orders and overstocks from manufacturers, department stores and other suppliers.