Bernstein Bank Cuts Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $94.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price target trimmed by Bernstein Bank from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report published on Friday morning.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.45.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.5 %

Dollar General stock opened at $75.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. Dollar General has a 52 week low of $73.51 and a 52 week high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 36.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. This trade represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $80.40 per share, for a total transaction of $40,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,298,812. This trade represents a 1.23 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Dollar General by 11.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after buying an additional 2,113,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Dollar General by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,217,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,155,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,031,593 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Dollar General by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,899,000 after acquiring an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.