Melius Research Upgrades Dollar General (NYSE:DG) to Strong-Buy

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Melius Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

DG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.75.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $87.87 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $79.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.14. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $156.60. The company has a market cap of $19.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,913,036,000 after buying an additional 160,853 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,425,000 after purchasing an additional 118,204 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC lifted its position 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 worth $306,424,000 after buying an additional 3,994,070 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.