TD Cowen Lowers Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Price Target to $177.00

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) had its price target decreased by TD Cowen from $185.00 to $177.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the apparel retailer’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on ROST. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $162.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.69.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $146.09 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Ross Stores has a 52 week low of $127.53 and a 52 week high of $163.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 42.43%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total value of $2,266,099.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 11,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. This represents a 57.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,038,546.36. This trade represents a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROST. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 262.1% in the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 210 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 97.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 275 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.