Dollar General Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:DG)

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 26,764 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 31% compared to the typical volume of 20,488 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after buying an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,018,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Dollar General by 5,624.9% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 321,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,385,000 after acquiring an additional 316,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY bought a new stake in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth $6,158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DG shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.75.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG traded up $2.85 during trading on Thursday, hitting $92.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,080,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,256,963. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $81.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $147.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

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.