Mission Wealth Management LP Sells 699 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Mission Wealth Management LP trimmed its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 16.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,445 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 699 shares during the quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ross Stores by 17.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,121,706 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,360,413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,946,101 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Ross Stores by 59.3% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,055,088 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $518,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,815 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ross Stores during the first quarter worth approximately $122,043,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in Ross Stores by 184.4% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,080,532 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $138,081,000 after purchasing an additional 700,546 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ross Stores by 374.5% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 411,404 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $52,487,000 after purchasing an additional 324,693 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $162.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.58. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.36 and a 52 week high of $162.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $152.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.76 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.18.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for 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%.Ross Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 25.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Karen Fleming sold 2,932 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.09, for a total transaction of $437,131.88. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 88,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,169,865.15. The trade was a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen C. Brinkley sold 6,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.97, for a total transaction of $971,793.89. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 52,720 shares of company stock worth $7,761,212 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ROST. UBS Group raised their target price on Ross Stores from $144.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, October 31st. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $156.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $128.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.67.

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.