Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07, RTT News reports. Ross Stores had a return on equity of 42.42% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ross Stores Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ ROST opened at $146.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.53. Ross Stores has a 12 month low of $127.53 and a 12 month high of $163.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Ross Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be given a $0.3675 dividend. This represents a $1.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Ross Stores’s payout ratio is currently 23.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ROST shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Ross Stores from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Loop Capital upped their target price on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Ross Stores from $147.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Ross Stores from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Ross Stores in a report on Monday, November 18th. Five investment 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, Ross Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.69.

Insider Activity at Ross Stores

In other news, CEO Barbara Rentler sold 48,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $7,524,868.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 311,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,003,532.29. This trade represents a 13.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael J. Hartshorn sold 8,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total value of $1,302,084.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 103,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,038,546.36. This represents a 7.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 72,138 shares of company stock valued at $11,093,051. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.