Pitcairn Co. Has $3.04 Million Stock Position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

Pitcairn Co. lowered its stake in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 15.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,201 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 3,607 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $3,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its position in Ross Stores by 1.9% in the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 3,986 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 4.0% during the second quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 5.2% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,735 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 2.4% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,673 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Kintegral Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ross Stores by 3.0% during the second quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 2,943 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.2 %

ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. Ross Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year 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 company has a market cap of $48.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.53.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted 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. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 42.42%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ROST shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.69.

Insider Transactions at Ross Stores

In other news, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total transaction of $1,302,084.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,038,546.36. The trade was a 7.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Ross Stores 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.