JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $161.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $158.00 to $161.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Dollar General from $147.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $147.00 price objective (up from $127.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Dollar General from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $153.08.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $144.47 on Monday. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $101.09 and a 12-month high of $222.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $149.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.78. The stock has a market cap of $31.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.42.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 26.13% and a net margin of 4.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Dollar General will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total value of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,636,371.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Fiduciary Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 0.7% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co. now owns 8,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. SevenOneSeven Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 5.4% during the second quarter. SevenOneSeven Capital Management now owns 1,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 2.3% during the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 2,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Cito Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 2.5% during the first quarter. Cito Capital Group LLC now owns 3,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 12.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

About Dollar General

Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. It offers consumable products, including paper and cleaning products, such as paper towels, bath tissues, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry products; packaged food comprising cereals, pasta, canned soups, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar, and flour; and perishables that include milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, and wine.