Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

General information. See the information set forth under the caption "Quarterly Financial Data (Unaudited)" under Note K of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report, which is incorporated herein by reference. Our stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market® under the symbol ROST. There were 886 stockholders of record as of March 12, 2018 and the closing stock price on that date was $76.43 per share.

Cash dividends. On March 6, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.2250 per common share, payable on March 30, 2018. Our Board of Directors declared cash dividends of $0.1600 per common share in February, May, August, and November 2017, cash dividends of $0.1350 per common share in March, May, August, and November 2016, and cash dividends of $0.1175 per common share in February, May, August, and November 2015.

Issuer purchases of equity securities. Information regarding shares of common stock we repurchased during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 is as follows:

In February 2017, our Board of Directors approved a two-year $1.75 billion stock repurchase program through fiscal 2018. In March 2018, our Board of Directors approved an increase in the stock repurchase authorization for fiscal 2018 by $200 million to $1.075 billion, up from the previously available $875 million.

See Note H of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for equity compensation plan information. The information under Item 12 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the caption “Equity compensation plan information” is incorporated herein by reference.

Stockholder Return Performance Graph

The following information in this Item 5 shall not be deemed filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Act of 1934, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933.

The graph below compares total stockholder returns over the last five years for our common stock with the Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) 500 Index, the Dow Jones Apparel Retailers Index, and the S&P Retailing Group.

We are using the Dow Jones Apparel Retailers Index for the first time in our performance graph this year because we believe the retail companies comprising that index are more closely aligned with the segment of the retail industry in which we operate, and it provides a more relevant comparison against which to measure our stock performance. For comparison purposes, we have also included the S&P Retailing Group in our fiscal 2017 performance graph. We do not plan to include the S&P Retailing Group Index in next year’s performance graph.

The cumulative total return listed below assumed an initial investment of $100 and reinvestment of dividends at each fiscal year end, and measures the performance of this investment as of the last trading day in the month of January for each of the following five years. These measurement dates are based on the historical month-end data available and vary slightly from our actual fiscal year-end date for each period. Data with respect to returns for the S&P indexes and the Dow Jones Apparel Retailers Index is not readily available for periods shorter than one month. The graph is a historical representation of past performance only and is not necessarily indicative of future performance.

COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN

Among Ross Stores, Inc., the S&P 500 Index, S&P Retailing Group, and Dow Jones Apparel Retailers