Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Has $1.24 Million Stock Holdings in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) by 96.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,552 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,108 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Dollar Tree were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,920,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,461,000 after purchasing an additional 533,920 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,753,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,023,819 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 7,940,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $595,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,637 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in Dollar Tree by 382.7% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 6,524,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,974,000 after acquiring an additional 5,173,238 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Dollar Tree by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,109,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,964,000 after acquiring an additional 222,352 shares during the period. 97.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on DLTR. Barclays raised shares of Dollar Tree from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar Tree from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $72.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.74.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

DLTR stock opened at $114.99 on Wednesday. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a one year low of $60.49 and a one year high of $115.99. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of -8.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 4th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.05. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 12.15% and a positive return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $4.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar Tree announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 9th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 11.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar Tree news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.62, for a total transaction of $1,989,480.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 50,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,770,645.78. This represents a 29.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.