Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Shares Up 3.7% – Here’s What Happened

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)’s share price shot up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $93.70 and last traded at $93.53. 5,484,108 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 49% from the average session volume of 3,692,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.26.

Dollar General Stock Performance

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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.97. The stock has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 46.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth about $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $140,421,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 323.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,776 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528,450 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.