Portfolio Design Labs LLC Buys New Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 12,857 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,737,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 23,772 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised its position in Ross Stores by 138.4% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,300,056 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $234,192,000 after purchasing an additional 754,816 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,750,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 14,745 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,656,000 after buying an additional 7,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 744.8% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 211,676 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,131,000 after buying an additional 186,619 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $228.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $233.83 and a 200 day moving average of $221.74. The firm has a market cap of $73.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.86. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $143.39 and a 1 year high of $257.00.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Ross Stores from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $257.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.76.

Key Ross Stores News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ross Stores this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter sales increased 13.3% year over year to approximately $6.3 billion, while comparable-store sales rose 10% as customer traffic strengthened. Ross Stores Reports Strong Second Quarter Sales and Earnings Results
• Positive Sentiment: Reported diluted EPS reached $2.66, up sharply from $1.56 a year earlier and well above consensus estimates near $1.93-$1.94. Several reports characterized the quarter as a double beat on earnings and revenue. Ross Stores Q2 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Ross raised fiscal 2026 EPS guidance to $8.61-$8.77, substantially above the approximately $7.31 consensus cited in the reports. Third-quarter guidance of $1.75-$1.83 and fourth-quarter guidance of $2.17-$2.26 also exceed consensus expectations. Ross Stores Raises Annual Profit Forecast Again
• Positive Sentiment: The company increased its fiscal-year store-opening plan to 115 locations after opening 47 stores during the quarter, supporting longer-term revenue growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ross declared its regular quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 8. The dividend provides ongoing shareholder returns but was not a major change to the investment outlook. Ross Stores Announces Quarterly Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: About $253 million of the quarter’s operating income came from IEEPA tariff refunds. Investors may discount some of the earnings upside because tariff-related benefits could be nonrecurring, leaving underlying margins and demand as key areas to monitor.
• Negative Sentiment: ROST remains near its 52-week high and trades at a relatively demanding valuation, making the stock vulnerable to profit-taking or disappointment even after a strong report. Pre-earnings options activity also showed elevated put demand and implied volatility.

Ross Stores Profile

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.