Wells Fargo & Company Reiterates “Equal Weight” Rating for Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $165.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 6.71% from the company’s current price.

ROST has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Ross Stores from $185.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Ross Stores in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup cut Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $179.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ross Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ross Stores from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ross Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.29.

Ross Stores Stock Performance

Ross Stores stock opened at $154.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $149.29 and a 200-day moving average of $147.66. The stock has a market cap of $51.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.10. Ross Stores has a 52 week low of $127.53 and a 52 week high of $163.60.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The apparel retailer reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. Ross Stores had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 41.83%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ross Stores will post 6.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROST. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Ross Stores by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,741 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Prudential PLC lifted its position in shares of Ross Stores by 52.9% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 5,223 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Ross Stores by 147.4% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 318,166 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $46,236,000 after purchasing an additional 189,558 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA increased its stake in Ross Stores by 143.0% in the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 14,483 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 8,524 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Ross Stores by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 9,941 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $1,445,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.86% 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.