Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST Holdings Raised by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 135.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,900 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 14,900 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $3,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ROST. AXA S.A. boosted its position in Ross Stores by 70.2% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 269,198 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $34,344,000 after purchasing an additional 111,071 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,974,551 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,782,873,000 after purchasing an additional 61,168 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 73,999 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $9,441,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Ossiam grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ossiam now owns 13,726 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $181.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.03. 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 one year low of $122.36 and a one year high of $182.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $163.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.49.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 37.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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 and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.770-1.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.9%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total value of $437,131.88. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 88,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,169,865.15. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total transaction of $971,793.89. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 57,012 shares in the company, valued at $8,607,101.64. This trade represents a 10.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 48,720 shares of company stock valued at $7,154,172 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ROST shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, October 31st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.19.

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.