Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Research Coverage Started at Melius Research

Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Daiwa America cut shares of Dollar General from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of Dollar General from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the company from $168.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a 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 $112.57.

Dollar General Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $86.94 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General has a 1 year low of $77.96 and a 1 year high of $168.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The company had revenue of $10.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total value of $208,957.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $762,819.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Dollar General news, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $80.83 per share, with a total value of $80,830.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,397,284.90. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Dollar General by 286.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 56,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,637,000 after buying an additional 41,635 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Dollar General by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 31,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,793 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Dollar General by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 58,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth $698,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.