Dollar General Co. (DG) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 7th

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 4th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of 0.59 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th.

Dollar General has raised its dividend by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years. Dollar General has a payout ratio of 39.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Dollar General to earn $6.09 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.8%.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $74.67 on Friday. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $72.12 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.24 and its 200 day moving average is $95.87. 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 firm has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Dollar General in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup lowered Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.27.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Dollar General

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.