Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) Reaches New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $108.95 and last traded at $108.74, with a volume of 1449833 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on DLTR shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Dollar Tree from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Dollar Tree from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar Tree from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $82.00 price target on shares of Dollar Tree and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.37.

Dollar Tree Trading Up 0.9%

The company's 50 day moving average price is $94.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a PE ratio of -7.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.86.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $4.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar Tree announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 11.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar Tree news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 50,419 shares in the company, valued at $4,770,645.78. This represents a 29.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Aditya Maheshwari sold 1,238 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.70, for a total value of $92,478.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $316,055.70. This represents a 22.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,439 shares of company stock worth $2,099,028 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar Tree

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 382.7% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 6,524,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $488,974,000 after acquiring an additional 5,173,238 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 784.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,377,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $328,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882,324 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Dollar Tree by 2,489.9% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,621,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,452,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520,237 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Dollar Tree by 69.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,848,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $439,025,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,586 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Dollar Tree in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $171,149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.40% of the company's stock.

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.