Ross Stores’ (ROST) Market Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Sanford C. Bernstein

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $165.00 price target on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their prior price target of $178.00. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target points to a potential upside of 6.71% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.29.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $154.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $51.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.61. Ross Stores has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year high of $163.60.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter worth $60,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by 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.