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

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from $170.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.21% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $163.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report 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 report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.69.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ 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 stock has a market cap of $48.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.14 and a 200 day moving average of $144.62. 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 (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 42.42%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ross Stores

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ROST. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 64.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,862,684 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,922 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $347,585,000 after buying an additional 975,190 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 4,787.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 629,744 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $94,783,000 after buying an additional 616,860 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 59.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,261,102 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $183,263,000 after buying an additional 469,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 27.8% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,814,440 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $263,675,000 after buying an additional 394,774 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.