Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,278 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $4,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 9.3% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,830 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Ross Stores by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 111,547 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $16,999,000 after purchasing an additional 9,474 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,990 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,894,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 64,627 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $9,849,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ross Stores during the third quarter valued at about $219,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ROST shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $181.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on Ross Stores in a report on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Ross Stores from $188.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.94.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $200.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.49. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $200.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The apparel retailer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 36.75% and a net margin of 9.47%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores 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.