State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 120,446 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 2,550 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $18,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ROST. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price (down previously from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup downgraded Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down from $164.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.06.

Ross Stores Stock Down 1.2 %

ROST opened at $138.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $45.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. Ross Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $127.53 and a one year high of $163.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $149.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.95.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.15%.

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.