Traders Buy Large Volume of Dollar Tree Put Options (NASDAQ:DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 171,378 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 947% compared to the typical volume of 16,367 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Dollar Tree from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $130.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $145.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $128.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Dollar Tree from $120.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar Tree from $128.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar Tree currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.63.

Dollar Tree Price Performance

DLTR stock traded up $4.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $67.79. 16,933,057 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,028,781. The company has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.60, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.87. Dollar Tree has a 52-week low of $60.81 and a 52-week high of $151.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.49 billion. Dollar Tree had a positive return on equity of 15.67% and a negative net margin of 3.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Dollar Tree will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Robert Aflatooni sold 827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $87,314.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,765.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar Tree

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLTR. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,608,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,501,314,000 after buying an additional 487,180 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,581,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,503,123,000 after buying an additional 2,445,827 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Dollar Tree by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,197,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,224,000 after buying an additional 1,566,392 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Dollar Tree by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,881,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,356,000 after purchasing an additional 73,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in Dollar Tree by 50.0% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,872,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,693,000 after purchasing an additional 957,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

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.