Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Shares Down 1.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)’s share price traded down 1.5% on Friday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $90.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Dollar General traded as low as $77.52 and last traded at $78.75. 752,686 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 3,509,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.95.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Bernstein Bank cut their price objective on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 2.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.70. 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 (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

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.