Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 2,400,586 Shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. $DLTR

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Dollar Tree, Inc. by 69.6%, now owning 5,848,196 shares valued at approximately $439 million.
• Dollar Tree announced a $2.50 billion share repurchase plan, indicating a belief that the stock is currently undervalued.
• Equities analysts have mixed ratings on Dollar Tree, with an average rating of "Hold" and a target price around $100.89.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR - Free Report) by 69.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,848,196 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,400,586 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 2.72% of Dollar Tree worth $439,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,839,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,789,648,000 after purchasing an additional 389,490 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 0.7% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,994,978 shares of the company's stock valued at $750,323,000 after purchasing an additional 74,230 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 14.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $488,974,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 8.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,529,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $264,997,000 after purchasing an additional 286,910 shares during the last quarter. 97.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DLTR. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Dollar Tree in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Dollar Tree from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Dollar Tree from $111.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Dollar Tree from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Dollar Tree from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar Tree presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.68.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

DLTR traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $112.86. 2,981,961 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,073,790. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Dollar Tree, Inc. has a one year low of $60.49 and a one year high of $118.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.27.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.52 billion. Dollar Tree had a negative net margin of 12.15% and a positive return on equity of 19.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. Dollar Tree has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.150-5.650 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Dollar Tree, Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Dollar Tree declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 9th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 11.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar Tree news, CMO Richard L. Mcneely sold 21,026 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 50,419 shares in the company, valued at $4,770,645.78. This trade 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 this link. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.