1,658 Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Bought by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,658 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 458.0% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 240 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Rock Creek Group LP bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Steward Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 164.1% in the third quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 338 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST stock opened at $132.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $142.99 and a 200-day moving average of $135.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.00 and a 12 month high of $151.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.04.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.19. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 41.15%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 5th that permits the company to repurchase $2.10 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 2,265 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.38, for a total transaction of $329,285.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,914 shares in the company, valued at $278,257.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 21,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.14, for a total value of $3,056,067.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,616,788.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 2,265 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.38, for a total transaction of $329,285.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $278,257.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,097 shares of company stock worth $10,396,178 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ROST. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $155.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $143.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.21.

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.