Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $140.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $164.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target (down from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.06.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST stock opened at $148.94 on Tuesday. Ross Stores has a one year low of $127.53 and a one year high of $163.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a $0.3675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is 23.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ross Stores

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ROST. Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 115,849 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $17,524,000 after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Ross Stores by 137.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,976,140 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $299,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,774 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Ross Stores by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 71,933 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $10,881,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 917.2% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 29,498 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 26,598 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 251.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 260,126 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $39,152,000 after acquiring an additional 186,161 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.