Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Insider Stephen Brinkley Sells 6,437 Shares

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) insider Stephen Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total value of $971,793.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 57,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,607,101.64. This trade represents a 10.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $147.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $148.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.79. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $122.36 and a one year high of $158.69.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 37.37% and a net margin of 9.60%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,182,660 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,998,924,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,954 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,974,551 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,782,873,000 after acquiring an additional 61,168 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,268,700 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,310,081,000 after acquiring an additional 51,765 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,582,401 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ross Stores by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,673,823 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,102,077,000 after buying an additional 133,005 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ROST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $156.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up from $150.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.67.

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.