Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Raises Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,656 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,563 shares during the quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $4,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 7,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 142 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1,080.0% in the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $212.75 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $68.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $218.48 and a 200 day moving average of $195.21. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.49 and a 12 month high of $231.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.Ross Stores’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In related news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total value of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,521,004. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $214.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.29.

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.