Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target Lowered to $90.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Gordon Haskett raised Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Dollar General from $169.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Dollar General in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.45.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE DG traded down $1.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $75.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,704,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,199,770. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. Dollar General has a 1-year low of $73.51 and a 1-year high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $81.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.38.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $80.83 per share, for a total transaction of $80,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,397,284.90. This trade represents a 2.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 453.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after acquiring an additional 8,388,735 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at $194,832,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 11.3% during the 1st 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,155,141,000 after buying an additional 2,031,593 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,257,000 after buying an additional 765,206 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.