Nomura Holdings Inc. Lowers Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Nomura Holdings Inc. decreased its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 71.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,247 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 20,221 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 17.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,360,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,946,101 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,336,312 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $504,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,571 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the first quarter valued at approximately $122,043,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ross Stores by 16,435.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 806,099 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $103,011,000 after buying an additional 801,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steadfast Capital Management LP raised its stake in Ross Stores by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Steadfast Capital Management LP now owns 1,633,862 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $247,154,000 after buying an additional 380,805 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.67.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $150.73 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.61. The company has a market cap of $49.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.93, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.36 and a 12-month high of $158.69.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 25.71%.

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.