Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST – Get Rating) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

ROST has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $121.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ross Stores from $116.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $123.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.94.

Ross Stores Stock Up 1.3 %

ROST opened at $112.43 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Ross Stores has a 1-year low of $69.24 and a 1-year high of $122.44. The company has a market capitalization of $38.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.49.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The apparel retailer reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.08. Ross Stores had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 36.40%. The business had revenue of $5.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ross Stores will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ross Stores by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,657,768 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,487,464,000 after buying an additional 994,578 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ross Stores by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,845,099 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $2,346,507,000 after purchasing an additional 227,166 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,702,262 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $962,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,174 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,235,856 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $838,367,000 after purchasing an additional 120,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Ross Stores by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,318,339 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $617,300,000 after purchasing an additional 53,842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

About Ross Stores

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Ross Stores, Inc engages in the operation of off-price retail apparel and home accessories stores. Its products include branded and designer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions through the Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS brands. The company was founded by Stuart G. Moldaw in 1957 and is headquartered in Dublin, CA.