Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 48.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,488 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,941 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $29,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 23,772 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,847 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,411,000. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,542,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,790,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 104,406 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $15,910,000 after purchasing an additional 6,941 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In related news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total transaction of $1,174,980.40. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ROST. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ross Stores from $248.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.18.

Ross Stores Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of ROST stock opened at $231.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.54. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.49 and a 1 year high of $237.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $224.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $203.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.86.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.