Nykredit A S Purchases New Shares in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 176,030 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $37,468,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 39.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 23.5% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 35.8% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,581 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.0% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 150,491 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $19,200,000 after buying an additional 1,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 2.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 12,580 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,605,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ROST stock opened at $231.67 on Friday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $143.39 and a twelve month high of $257.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.85.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The apparel retailer reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.16 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 39.29% and a net margin of 10.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

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 given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ROST. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ross Stores from $232.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ross Stores from $231.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ross Stores from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $263.76.

About Ross Stores

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.