Stevens Capital Management LP Purchases New Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,913 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,411,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter worth $4,790,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,542,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $19,904,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of ROST opened at $227.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.87. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.49 and a 52 week high of $230.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $216.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The company had revenue of $6.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.93%.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 1,881 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.13, for a total value of $400,897.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,147.67. The trade was a 46.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $224.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $215.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.06.

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.