Waddell & Associates LLC Takes $468,000 Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Waddell & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,599 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ROST. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 39.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 27,875 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 23.5% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 35.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,581 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.0% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 150,491 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $19,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Ross Stores by 2.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 12,580 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ross Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ross Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ross Stores news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,935,577.48. The trade was a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,331,883.20. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of ROST stock opened at $229.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $73.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.12. 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 fifty-two week low of $124.49 and a fifty-two week high of $237.41.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The apparel retailer reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 38.42% and a net margin of 9.74%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is presently 24.86%.

Ross Stores Company Profile

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.