Cornerstone Advisors LLC Grows Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,100 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $2,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ROST. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Ross Stores by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,440,272 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $517,795,000 after buying an additional 129,908 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,737,042 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $397,747,000 after acquiring an additional 254,720 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ross Stores by 15.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,477,142 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $359,991,000 after acquiring an additional 331,996 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ross Stores by 68.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,391,856 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $347,585,000 after acquiring an additional 975,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Ross Stores by 3.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,131,529 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $312,756,000 after purchasing an additional 69,085 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ross Stores news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total value of $7,524,868.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 311,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,003,532.29. This represents a 13.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 11,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,665.26. The trade was a 57.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ROST. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $163.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.50.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST stock opened at $142.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.53 and a 1 year high of $163.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.32 and a 200 day moving average of $144.43. The company has a market cap of $47.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 42.43% and a net margin of 9.82%. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be given a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.71%.

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.