Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Given New $100.00 Price Target at Barclays

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America upgraded Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, HSBC reduced their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.18.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of DG opened at $71.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Dollar General has a fifty-two week low of $70.15 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.37. The company has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 85.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after purchasing an additional 26,813 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the third quarter worth $5,650,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Dollar General by 231.6% in the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after buying an additional 26,165 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 62.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 166,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,087,000 after acquiring an additional 64,336 shares during the period. Finally, Kiltearn Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,587,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.