Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Raises Dividend to $0.41 Per Share

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the apparel retailer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This is a 10.2% increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Ross Stores has increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years. Ross Stores has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ross Stores to earn $6.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.0%.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of ROST opened at $138.64 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $146.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.64. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $127.53 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 9.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $168.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.12.

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.