Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 50,841 Shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia sold 50,841 shares of Dollar Tree, Inc., reducing its stake by 29.1% to own approximately 124,148 shares valued at $9.32 million as of the last SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors, including Kovitz Investment Group and Marshall Wace LLP, have significantly increased their holdings in Dollar Tree, reflecting a growing interest in the stock with institutional ownership now at 97.40%.
• Dollar Tree announced a $2.5 billion share buyback program, indicating the board's confidence that the stock is undervalued, as the company prepares to purchase up to 11.5% of its outstanding shares.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR - Free Report) by 29.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,148 shares of the company's stock after selling 50,841 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.06% of Dollar Tree worth $9,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DLTR. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,173,238 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,882,324 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 2,489.9% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,621,456 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,520,237 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,753,693 shares of the company's stock valued at $656,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,023,819 shares during the period. Finally, Corvex Management LP lifted its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 155.2% during the 4th quarter. Corvex Management LP now owns 2,886,735 shares of the company's stock valued at $216,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,761 shares during the period. 97.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DLTR. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Dollar Tree from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Bank of America dropped their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Dollar Tree in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Dollar Tree from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $95.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Dollar Tree from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.74.

Insider Activity at Dollar Tree

In other news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of Dollar Tree stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 29.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

DLTR opened at $115.72 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $102.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.83. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.49 and a 1 year high of $116.50.

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

Dollar Tree announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 9th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 11.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Dollar Tree

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.

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