Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 89.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 312,453 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 147,843 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $56,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ethic Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $4,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,847 shares during the period. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,542,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,411,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,790,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 45,043 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $8,114,000 after acquiring an additional 17,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.18.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $240.13 on Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.49 and a 1 year high of $242.81. The firm has a market cap of $77.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 2.70 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $224.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.55.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 38.42%. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 24.86%.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores 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 sale, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.