Crew Capital Management Ltd. Invests $339,000 in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,449 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,121,854 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $465,563,000 after buying an additional 673,670 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,677,191 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $415,339,000 after buying an additional 68,518 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,077,953 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $347,655,000 after buying an additional 44,722 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,229,488 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $251,821,000 after buying an additional 95,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,215,353 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $250,224,000 after buying an additional 247,513 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 2,265 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.38, for a total value of $329,285.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,914 shares in the company, valued at $278,257.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 21,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.14, for a total transaction of $3,056,067.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 114,488 shares in the company, valued at $16,616,788.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 2,265 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.38, for a total transaction of $329,285.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $278,257.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 71,097 shares of company stock worth $10,396,178. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ROST. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $150.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $143.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $144.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.21.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST traded down $2.55 during trading on Monday, reaching $131.06. 3,541,723 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,012,055. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.00 and a 12 month high of $151.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $142.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.57. The firm has a market cap of $44.13 billion, a PE ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The apparel retailer reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.19. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 41.15%. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 5th that permits the company to buyback $2.10 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. This is an increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 26.44%.

Ross Stores 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.