Evercore ISI Raises Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $151.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price boosted by Evercore ISI from $150.00 to $151.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the stock.

DG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $147.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $148.00.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $127.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 1.22. Dollar General has a one year low of $101.09 and a one year high of $173.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $137.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.94.

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

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,636,371.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were 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 owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,778.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Trust boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 16.0% in the first quarter. American Trust now owns 24,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 3,433 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Dollar General in the first quarter worth $45,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 41.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,526,000 after purchasing an additional 4,724 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 278.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,086,000 after purchasing an additional 47,534 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 118.4% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 28,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,241 shares during the period. 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.