Meeder Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Meeder Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 53.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,398 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 26,438 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $5,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ross Stores in the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,360,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1,908.8% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $276,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726,324 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 20.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,167,479 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $570,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth $204,750,000. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST opened at $233.46 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.48 and a 1-year high of $242.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $224.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.87.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $248.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Ross Stores from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $245.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.18.

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.