Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 2,200 Shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,000 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $6,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,137,281 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,127,802,000 after purchasing an additional 67,861 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,152,045 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,915,000 after buying an additional 34,475 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 4.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,812,233 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,025,309,000 after buying an additional 316,652 shares during the last quarter. Marshfield Associates increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 3,908,958 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $588,337,000 after buying an additional 14,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,862,684 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,507,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $141.27 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $150.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.01. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year high of $163.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $46.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released 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 return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 23.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ROST. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.06.

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.