Ross Stores, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.37 (NASDAQ:ROST)

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 20th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of 0.3675 per share by the apparel retailer on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%.

Ross Stores has raised its dividend by an average of 67.5% per year over the last three years. Ross Stores has a payout ratio of 22.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ross Stores to earn $6.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.2%.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $139.32. The stock had a trading volume of 3,679,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,636. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $145.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.48. Ross Stores has a 52 week low of $127.53 and a 52 week high of $163.60.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ROST. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ross Stores from $162.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total transaction of $1,302,084.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 103,049 shares in the company, valued at $16,038,546.36. This represents a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 11,133 shares in the company, valued at $1,694,665.26. This represents a 57.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.