Empower Advisory Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Dollar Tree by 8.0% during the first quarter, holding a total of 821,288 shares valued at $61.65 million.
• Several other institutional investors significantly expanded their positions in Dollar Tree, with Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increasing its ownership by 382.7% during the last quarter.
• Dollar Tree's stock recently declared a $2.5 billion stock buyback plan, indicating the board's belief that its shares may be undervalued.

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 821,288 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 60,865 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned approximately 0.38% of Dollar Tree worth $61,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Dollar Tree during the 4th quarter worth $340,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree by 50.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after buying an additional 4,619 shares in the last quarter. McGinn Penninger Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Dollar Tree by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. McGinn Penninger Investment Management Inc. now owns 68,585 shares of the company's stock worth $5,149,000 after buying an additional 8,015 shares during the last quarter. Bastion Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Dollar Tree in the first quarter worth approximately $3,585,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in Dollar Tree during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.40% of the company's stock.

Dollar Tree Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:DLTR traded up $0.79 on Thursday, reaching $117.16. 2,303,968 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,235,302. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $104.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.57. The company has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.45, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.88. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.49 and a 12 month high of $117.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $4.64 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar Tree declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 9th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 11.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of Dollar Tree stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DLTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Dollar Tree in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Dollar Tree from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Dollar Tree from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Dollar Tree from a "strong-buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.74.

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.