Karen Sykes Sells 2,556 Shares of Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Stock

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

Ross Stores Stock Down 1.7%

ROST stock opened at $206.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $216.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.22. The firm has a market cap of $66.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 2.86 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is currently 24.51%.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,998,924,000 after buying an additional 5,060,954 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $868,360,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $351,763,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1,908.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,816,763 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $276,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,657,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.29.

About Ross Stores

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.