GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Grows Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,618 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ROST. PGGM Investments lifted its position in Ross Stores by 724.1% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 24,848 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,611,000 after buying an additional 21,833 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 140.2% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 464,062 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $68,106,000 after acquiring an additional 270,844 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 47.5% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,124 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 19.3% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 30,919 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,538,000 after purchasing an additional 4,992 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 42.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 63,105 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $9,260,000 after purchasing an additional 18,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $173.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Gordon Haskett raised Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.00.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total value of $1,302,084.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,038,546.36. The trade was a 7.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $7,524,868.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares in the company, valued at $48,003,532.29. This trade represents a 13.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $141.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $145.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.42. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $127.53 and a 52-week high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The apparel retailer reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.25 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 42.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $0.3675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.71%.

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.