Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Trading Down 1.8% on Insider Selling

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)’s share price traded down 1.8% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $85.34 and last traded at $86.15. 4,657,384 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 3,793,190 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.70.

Specifically, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.75.

Dollar General Trading Down 2.5 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The business had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.18%.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

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