Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 5,000 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,627 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $9,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 39.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Ross Stores by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,907 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,029,000 after buying an additional 4,682 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Ross Stores by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,217 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in Ross Stores by 189.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 698 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ROST. Guggenheim upgraded Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $188.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.94.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of ROST opened at $196.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $186.70 and its 200 day moving average is $165.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.52. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.36 and a fifty-two week high of $197.24.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 36.75%. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 25.31%.

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.