Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 232,455 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,485 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Dollar Tree worth $16,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DLTR. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 31.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 13.8% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 2.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 8,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 49.8% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 2,294 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Dollar Tree during the 1st quarter worth about $422,000. Institutional investors own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DLTR. BMO Capital Markets cut Dollar Tree from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp lowered Dollar Tree from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Telsey Advisory Group downgraded Dollar Tree from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on Dollar Tree from $128.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Dollar Tree in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.11.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Daniel J. Heinrich acquired 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was acquired 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 owns 9,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,616.21. This represents a 28.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DLTR opened at $64.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.74. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.49 and a twelve month high of $151.21.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.37). Dollar Tree had a positive return on equity of 15.77% and a negative net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.