The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $104.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $122.00 to $104.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. HSBC cut their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, August 26th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Daiwa America cut shares of Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.27.

Dollar General Stock Up 2.5 %

DG stock opened at $81.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.33. Dollar General has a 12 month low of $72.12 and a 12 month high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $80.83 per share, with a total value of $80,830.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,397,284.90. The trade was a 2.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 17.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 69,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,517,000 after acquiring an additional 10,333 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Dollar General by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Dollar General during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Dollar General by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. 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.