Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Shares Sold by Earnest Partners LLC

Earnest Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 1.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 506,803 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 9,979 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $77,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 39.9% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after buying an additional 7,951 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 23.5% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 4.3% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 28.0% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 18,104 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,962 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Ross Stores by 6.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 80,648 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $10,289,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST opened at $206.28 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.36 and a twelve month high of $216.80. The firm has a market cap of $66.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.97. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $196.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.57.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ROST. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 target price on Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Insider Activity

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.91, for a total transaction of $546,753.96. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 103,945 shares in the company, valued at $22,234,874.95. The trade was a 2.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 2,159 shares in the company, valued at $460,147.67. This represents a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.