B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) by 6.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,041 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ross Stores were worth $1,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ross Stores during the 4th quarter valued at about $523,185,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 515.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,756,881 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $243,135,000 after buying an additional 1,471,585 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 1,437.1% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,026,367 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $142,039,000 after buying an additional 959,594 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Ross Stores in the fourth quarter worth approximately $102,083,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ross Stores by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,722,885 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $653,600,000 after buying an additional 601,031 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, Director Patricia H. Mueller sold 941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $130,206.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 973 shares in the company, valued at $134,634.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROST has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $163.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Friday, June 14th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $159.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.06.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROST opened at $143.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $144.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.87. Ross Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.35 and a fifty-two week high of $153.06. The firm has a market cap of $47.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.08.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The apparel retailer reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.11. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ross Stores, Inc. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.79%.

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.