Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,086 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 556 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Ross Stores during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ross Stores during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 434.1% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 235 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ross Stores in the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Ross Stores during the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 86.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $146.01 on Tuesday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.53 and a 1 year high of $163.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $151.12 and its 200 day moving average is $147.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.3675 per share. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ROST. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price (down from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eight 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.06.

Ross Stores Company Profile

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.