Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 148,634 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 146% compared to the typical volume of 60,434 put options.

Institutional Trading of Dollar Tree

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Dollar Tree by 41.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 659,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,393,000 after purchasing an additional 192,754 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Dollar Tree by 374.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 1,797 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of Dollar Tree by 95.9% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,525,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,264,000 after acquiring an additional 746,913 shares during the period. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar Tree in the third quarter valued at about $19,591,000. Finally, Anthracite Investment Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Dollar Tree during the third quarter worth about $2,813,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on DLTR shares. StockNews.com raised Dollar Tree from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Dollar Tree to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Dollar Tree in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Melius Research started coverage on Dollar Tree in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.58.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

DLTR stock opened at $72.90 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.28, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. Dollar Tree has a fifty-two week low of $60.49 and a fifty-two week high of $151.21.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.45 billion. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 3.34% and a positive return on equity of 16.89%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar Tree will post 5.39 earnings per share 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.