Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST – Free Report) by 504.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,731 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,474 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $4,635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,762,583 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,487,720,000 after buying an additional 180,182 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 4,747,639 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $605,704,000 after buying an additional 426,370 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,655,932 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $709,518,000 after buying an additional 252,284 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,045,346 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $616,470,000 after buying an additional 375,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 4,020,413 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $612,671,000 after buying an additional 157,385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $257.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ross Stores from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.18.
Ross Stores Stock Performance
NASDAQ:ROST opened at $232.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.54. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.49 and a 52-week high of $237.41. The firm has a market cap of $74.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $222.40 and its 200 day moving average is $201.15.
Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ross Stores has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-7.740 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.850-1.930 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.
Ross Stores Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 24.86%.
Insider Activity at Ross Stores
In other Ross Stores news, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.40, for a total value of $1,174,980.40. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 104,648 shares in the company, valued at $22,331,883.20. This represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total value of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. This represents a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
About Ross Stores
Ross Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) is an American off‑price retailer headquartered in Dublin, California, that operates the Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS store formats. The company sells a broad assortment of apparel, footwear, home fashions, accessories and other soft goods, positioning itself as a value-oriented destination for brand‑name and fashion merchandise at reduced prices.
Ross’s business model centers on opportunistic buying of excess inventory, closeouts, cancelled orders and overstocks from manufacturers, department stores and other suppliers.
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