True Wealth Design LLC Has $44,000 Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

True Wealth Design LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 55.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 289 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 354 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $44,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,286 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 5,583 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 11,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.60, for a total transaction of $1,481,947.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 59,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,868,364. The trade was a 15.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.48, for a total value of $657,097.28. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,400,425.20. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,439,950 over the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.7%

ROST stock opened at $152.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $135.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.63. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $122.36 and a one year high of $163.60. The stock has a market cap of $50.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.17.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. Equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 25.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ROST shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $168.00 to $156.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $130.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $166.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.53.

Ross Stores Company Profile

Ross Stores, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores under the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brand names in the United States. Its stores primarily offer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions. The company’s Ross Dress for Less stores sell its products at department and specialty stores to middle income households; and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores sell its products at department and discount stores for households with moderate income.