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

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) dropped 1.5% during mid-day trading 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. Approximately 752,686 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 3,509,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.95.

DG has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Dollar General Trading Down 1.0 %

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 company has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $73.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.39.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

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.