Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Acquires 26,052 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 353.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 33,424 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,052 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $4,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ross Stores during the second quarter valued at $1,260,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 26.2% during the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 27,671 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,530,000 after acquiring an additional 5,742 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 12,671.4% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 894 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth about $264,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.07.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

ROST stock opened at $177.69 on Thursday. 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 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $178.09. The company has a market cap of $57.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $157.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.57.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.Ross Stores’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. Ross Stores has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.380-6.46 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.770-1.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CEO James Grant Conroy sold 39,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.00, for a total transaction of $5,745,246.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,944,338. This represents a 20.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.76, for a total transaction of $607,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 106,413 shares in the company, valued at $16,149,236.88. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,720 shares of company stock valued at $7,761,212. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ross Stores Company 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.