Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Short Interest Update

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,900,000 shares, a growth of 19.6% from the December 15th total of 9,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 5.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG traded down $0.82 on Friday, hitting $68.44. 3,380,183 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,174,597. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07. The firm has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. Dollar General’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.88%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Dollar General by 30.6% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 9,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bernstein Bank cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lowered Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. HSBC dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.18.

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.