Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 34,600.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Dollar Tree during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Dollar Tree during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Dollar Tree in the first quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar Tree during the first quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

Dollar Tree Stock Performance

Shares of DLTR opened at $108.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of -7.80, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $96.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.27. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.49 and a 52 week high of $109.74.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 12.15% and a positive return on equity of 19.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. Research analysts expect that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar Tree announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 9th that allows the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 11.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Dollar Tree news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.62, for a total value of $1,989,480.12. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 50,419 shares in the company, valued at $4,770,645.78. The trade was a 29.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar Tree from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Dollar Tree from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Dollar Tree from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Cfra Research raised Dollar Tree to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Dollar Tree from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Dollar Tree 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.