Cornerstone Advisors LLC Has $2.12 Million Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,100 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $2,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ROST. Bellwether Advisors LLC increased its position in Ross Stores by 66.6% during the third quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 23,628 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,556,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the third quarter worth about $1,781,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,412,000. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Ross Stores by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 30,788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,634,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ross Stores from $162.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.50.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROST opened at $142.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.53 and a 12-month high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 23.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ross Stores news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,003,532.29. The trade was a 13.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 11,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. This represents a 57.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.