Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Given New $180.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) had its price objective increased by Evercore ISI from $170.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the apparel retailer’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ROST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.69.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $127.53 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.53. The company has a market capitalization of $48.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.56.

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

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid 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 is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Ross Stores

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROST. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 262.1% in the 2nd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 210 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 97.8% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 275 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 86.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.