Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Price Target Raised to $173.00

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) had its price objective raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $171.00 to $173.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 18.42% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on ROST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, November 18th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Gordon Haskett raised Ross Stores to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ross Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.69.

Ross Stores Price Performance

ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $145.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.62. Ross Stores has a 12-month low of $127.53 and a 12-month high of $163.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $48.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 42.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 11,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. This trade represents a 57.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of Ross Stores stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total value of $7,524,868.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 311,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,003,532.29. This trade represents a 13.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ross Stores

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,137,281 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,127,802,000 after acquiring an additional 67,861 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,152,045 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,222,915,000 after buying an additional 34,475 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 4.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,812,233 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,025,309,000 after buying an additional 316,652 shares during the period. Marshfield Associates boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% in the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 3,908,958 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $588,337,000 after buying an additional 14,193 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 64.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,862,684 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $581,373,000 after buying an additional 1,507,922 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.