Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Stock Price

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) had its price target hoisted by Evercore ISI from $170.00 to $180.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the apparel retailer’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.69.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $48.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $145.14 and its 200 day moving average is $144.53. Ross Stores has a 12 month low of $127.53 and a 12 month high of $163.60.

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

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $7,524,868.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROST. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the second quarter worth about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 262.1% in the second quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 210 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ross Stores by 97.8% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 275 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ross Stores Company 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.