Ross Stores’ (ROST) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $140.00 price target on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their prior price target of $164.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 6.54% from the company’s current price.

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

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.6 %

ROST opened at $149.79 on Tuesday. Ross Stores has a twelve month low of $127.53 and a twelve month high of $163.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $150.64 and a 200-day moving average of $147.88. The stock has a market cap of $49.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ross Stores by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,137,281 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,127,802,000 after buying an additional 67,861 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 34,475 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ross Stores by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,812,233 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,025,309,000 after purchasing an additional 316,652 shares during the period. Marshfield Associates increased its position in shares of Ross Stores by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 3,908,958 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $588,337,000 after purchasing an additional 14,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 64.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,862,684 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,922 shares during the period. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.