Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on the stock from $168.00 to $156.00. The stock had previously closed at $135.97, but opened at $129.40. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ross Stores shares last traded at $136.99, with a volume of 761,826 shares traded.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ROST. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target (down from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ross Stores from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.24.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ross Stores

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,077,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,226,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 9,987 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Aurdan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ross Stores during the fourth quarter worth $8,516,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ross Stores Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $146.27 and its 200 day moving average is $147.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.15%.

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.