Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.41

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the apparel retailer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This is a 10.2% increase from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Ross Stores has increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years. Ross Stores has a dividend payout ratio of 23.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ross Stores to earn $6.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.3%.

Ross Stores Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $124.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.98 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $142.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.55. Ross Stores has a fifty-two week low of $122.77 and a fifty-two week high of $163.60. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ross Stores will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target (down from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “negative” rating on shares of Ross Stores in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.40.

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.