Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Has $543,000 Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. $ROST

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 710.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,016 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,644 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 7,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 142 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 1,080.0% in the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 177 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Ross Stores by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 15,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.91, for a total transaction of $3,398,371.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 116,028 shares in the company, valued at $24,935,577.48. This trade represents a 11.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Karen Sykes sold 5,506 shares of the firm’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 owned 104,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,331,883.20. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 25,756 shares of company stock worth $5,521,004 over the last ninety days. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price objective on Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ross Stores from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.29.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Shares of ROST stock opened at $212.75 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $218.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.97. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.49 and a 12 month high of $231.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The apparel retailer reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.10. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 9.43%.The firm had revenue of $6.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Ross Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 26.93%.

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.