Insider Selling: Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) CMO Sells 2,556 Shares of Stock

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) CMO Karen Sykes sold 2,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 103,945 shares in the company, valued at $22,234,874.95. This represents a 2.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Ross Stores stock traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $211.49. 945,549 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,589,979. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.36 and a 12-month high of $216.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $195.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.56. The company has a market cap of $68.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.97.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 24.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ross Stores

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ROST. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the second quarter valued at $1,265,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,949,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,411,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Ross Stores by 84.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 227,340 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $34,645,000 after buying an additional 104,270 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ross Stores by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 130,610 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $19,904,000 after buying an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Company Profile

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.