Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 48,779 Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 48,779 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $10,383,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the second quarter valued at $5,938,711,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ross Stores by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,911,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,506,099,000 after purchasing an additional 99,975 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Ross Stores by 20.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,222,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657,008 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Ross Stores by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,436,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $979,384,000 after purchasing an additional 79,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter valued at $868,360,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ross Stores Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of ROST opened at $235.28 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $233.84 and a 200 day moving average of $220.77. The company has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a PE ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.86. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $143.39 and a 52-week high of $257.00.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is currently 24.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ROST. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $231.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $248.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $242.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.76.

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.