Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 6.100-6.170 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 6.140. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ross Stores also updated its FY25 guidance to $6.10-$6.17 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROST. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.50.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of Ross Stores stock opened at $153.37 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $50.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.09. Ross Stores has a 1-year low of $127.53 and a 1-year high of $163.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $145.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.43.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 42.43%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. Ross Stores’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ross Stores will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ross Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ross Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.71%.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other Ross Stores news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total value of $7,524,868.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Michael Balmuth sold 14,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.22, for a total transaction of $2,266,099.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 11,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,694,665.26. This trade represents a 57.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,138 shares of company stock worth $11,093,051 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

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.