The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $93.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price target cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $104.00 to $93.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on DG. Bernstein Bank reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Citigroup downgraded Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:DG opened at $71.91 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. The company has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.88.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. Dollar General’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Dollar General by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,355,000 after purchasing an additional 31,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.