NWK Group Inc. Buys New Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

NWK Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 24,522 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $5,220,000. Ross Stores makes up approximately 1.6% of NWK Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ROST. Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 138.4% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,300,056 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $234,192,000 after acquiring an additional 754,816 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $204,750,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 14,745 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,656,000 after acquiring an additional 7,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ross Stores by 744.8% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 211,676 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,131,000 after purchasing an additional 186,619 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ROST shares. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Ross Stores from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $257.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.76.

Ross Stores Stock Down 0.7%

Ross Stores stock opened at $234.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $75.28 billion, a PE ratio of 32.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $234.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $221.46. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $143.39 and a 1-year high of $257.00.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio 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.