Portfolio Design Labs LLC Purchases 3,818 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 32.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,653 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,818 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $2,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ROST. State Street Corp grew its stake in Ross Stores by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,137,281 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,127,802,000 after buying an additional 67,861 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,152,045 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,915,000 after acquiring an additional 34,475 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,812,233 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,025,309,000 after acquiring an additional 316,652 shares during the last quarter. Marshfield Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 3,908,958 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $588,337,000 after acquiring an additional 14,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Ross Stores by 64.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,862,684 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ROST. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down previously from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.06.

Ross Stores Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ROST stock opened at $141.27 on Wednesday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.53 and a 12-month high of $163.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $150.75 and its 200 day moving average is $148.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 23.15%.

About Ross Stores

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.