Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Short Interest Update

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,130,000 shares, an increase of 14.6% from the June 30th total of 6,220,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 162.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,185,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,472,372,000 after purchasing an additional 11,257,537 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,071,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,408,514,000 after acquiring an additional 3,360,413 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at about $337,150,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,676,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,539,026,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273,119 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 1st quarter valued at about $301,738,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DG shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $161.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Dollar General from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.86.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE DG traded down $1.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $116.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 302,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,415,831. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $129.76 and a 200 day moving average of $138.99. Dollar General has a one year low of $101.09 and a one year high of $171.73.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.89 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 22.80% and a net margin of 3.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. Analysts expect that Dollar General will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 34.35%.

Dollar General Company Profile

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.