Guggenheim Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $180.00 target price on the apparel retailer’s stock.

ROST has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $162.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $163.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Five equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.69.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. Ross Stores has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year high of $163.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $145.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 42.42%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.3675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.15%.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In related news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 11,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. This represents a 57.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total transaction of $1,302,084.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,038,546.36. This represents a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ross Stores

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROST. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 154.5% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 308 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 69.8% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,514 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ross Stores by 14.1% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,927 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,710 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Ross Stores by 140.2% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 464,062 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $68,106,000 after purchasing an additional 270,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 216.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 72,808 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $10,684,000 after purchasing an additional 49,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

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.