Dollar Tree Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 148,634 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 146% compared to the average daily volume of 60,434 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar Tree

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Dollar Tree by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,872,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,693,000 after buying an additional 957,275 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar Tree by 488.4% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,044,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,531,000 after acquiring an additional 867,054 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 95.9% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,525,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,264,000 after acquiring an additional 746,913 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 165.4% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,028,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,803,000 after purchasing an additional 640,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in Dollar Tree in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,576,000. 97.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DLTR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Dollar Tree from $64.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Dollar Tree from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Dollar Tree from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Dollar Tree from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar Tree has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.58.

Dollar Tree Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ DLTR opened at $72.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.67 billion, a PE ratio of -15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Dollar Tree has a 12-month low of $60.49 and a 12-month high of $151.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.40.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.05. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 3.34% and a positive return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Dollar Tree will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Dollar Tree

Dollar Tree, Inc operates retail discount stores. The company operates in two segments, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar. The Dollar Tree segment offers merchandise at the fixed price of $ 1.25. It provides consumable merchandise, which includes everyday consumables, such as household paper and chemicals, food, candy, health, personal care products, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise comprising toys, durable housewares, gifts, stationery, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, arts and crafts supplies, and other items; and seasonal goods that include Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and Valentine's Day merchandise.