Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 75,719 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $4,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ross Stores by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,460,595 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,790,000 after buying an additional 1,208,861 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1,908.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,454,293 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,742,545,000 after buying an additional 25,137,186 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,886,365 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,178,183,000 after buying an additional 173,336 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 1.6% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,295,824 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $612,317,000 after buying an additional 146,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 29.2% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,151,764 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $339,347,000 after buying an additional 1,165,463 shares during the last quarter. 90.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ ROST) traded up 10.67% during trading on Friday, reaching $59.02. The company had a trading volume of 14,140,321 shares. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.85 and a 12-month high of $69.81. The stock has a market cap of $22.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.10. Ross Stores also was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 12,143 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,039% compared to the average volume of 1,066 call options.
Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 17th. The apparel retailer reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 42.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post $3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 21.92%.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION NOTICE: This article was posted by StockNewsTimes and is the property of of StockNewsTimes. If you are reading this article on another site, it was illegally copied and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright & trademark laws. The original version of this article can be viewed at https://stocknewstimes.com/2017/08/18/farmers-merchants-investments-inc-decreases-position-in-ross-stores-inc-nasdaqrost-updated-updated-updated.html.
ROST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $70.00 target price on Ross Stores and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded Ross Stores from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. UBS AG dropped their price objective on Ross Stores from $70.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $65.00 price objective on Ross Stores and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.04.
In other news, Director Sharon D. Garrett sold 16,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.23, for a total transaction of $1,019,899.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,967 shares in the company, valued at $314,063.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Ross Stores
Ross Stores, Inc and its subsidiaries operate two brands of off-price retail apparel and home fashion stores-Ross Dress for Less (Ross) and dd’s DISCOUNTS. The Company is the off-price apparel and home fashion chain in the United States, with 1,340 locations in 36 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, as of January 28, 2017.
Receive News & Ratings for Ross Stores Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ross Stores Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
