Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Has $6.24 Million Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 3.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,921 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $6,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $4,360,413,000 after acquiring an additional 4,946,101 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,673,823 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,102,077,000 after purchasing an additional 133,005 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,055,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $518,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,815 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,997,575 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $510,850,000 after purchasing an additional 192,148 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,912,392 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $372,134,000 after purchasing an additional 15,085 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total value of $437,131.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 88,335 shares in the company, valued at $13,169,865.15. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 4,000 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.76, for a total value of $607,040.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 106,413 shares in the company, valued at $16,149,236.88. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 52,720 shares of company stock worth $7,761,212 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $156.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.53.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $160.58 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $154.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.05. The firm has a market cap of $52.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.36 and a 1 year high of $165.07.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 37.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.71%.

Ross Stores 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.