Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Increases Dividend to $0.41 Per Share

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of 0.405 per share by the apparel retailer on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. This is a boost from Ross Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

Ross Stores has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years. Ross Stores has a payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ross Stores to earn $6.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.0%.

Ross Stores Price Performance

Shares of ROST stock traded up $1.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $137.12. 523,641 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,388,753. Ross Stores has a twelve month low of $127.53 and a twelve month high of $163.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.70. The firm has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The apparel retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ROST. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price (down previously from $178.00) on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.82.

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.