Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,065,971 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 142,892 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $372,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Ross Stores by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 23,772 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the third quarter worth about $1,411,000. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth about $1,542,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the third quarter worth about $4,790,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 84.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 227,340 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $34,645,000 after acquiring an additional 104,270 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. This represents a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total value of $1,174,980.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $257.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday. Truist Financial increased their price target on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price target on Ross Stores from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Ross Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.18.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

ROST opened at $234.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.49 and a 1-year high of $236.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $220.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.32.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 24.86%.

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.