Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) EVP Steven R. Deckard Sells 2,010 Shares

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of DG stock traded down $0.42 on Thursday, hitting $86.44. 2,856,365 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,977,792. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $77.96 and a twelve month high of $168.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The firm had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Dollar General by 162.5% during the fourth 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. Capital International Investors grew its position in Dollar General by 13.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the first quarter worth about $301,738,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,257,000 after purchasing an additional 765,206 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DG. Daiwa America lowered Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $139.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $169.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.95.

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.