Traders Purchase Large Volume of Dollar Tree Put Options (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 116,222 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 136% compared to the average volume of 49,203 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DLTR. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Dollar Tree in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Dollar Tree from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Dollar Tree in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $130.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Dollar Tree from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daniel J. Heinrich bought 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $68.27 per share, for a total transaction of $150,194.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,616.21. This trade represents a 28.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar Tree

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Dollar Tree by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,427,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $662,971,000 after purchasing an additional 596,191 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Dollar Tree by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,939,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,987,000 after buying an additional 35,862 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 5.5% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,030,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,129,000 after buying an additional 158,385 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 5.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,492,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,124,000 after acquiring an additional 138,042 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Dollar Tree by 6.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,003,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,958,000 after acquiring an additional 124,021 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

Dollar Tree Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:DLTR traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $73.16. The company had a trading volume of 3,695,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,452,478. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 1.02. Dollar Tree has a fifty-two week low of $60.49 and a fifty-two week high of $151.21. The firm has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.57.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 3.44% and a positive return on equity of 15.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Dollar Tree will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar Tree Company Profile

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.