Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $80.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.03% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on DG. Barclays decreased their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup cut Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, September 27th. HSBC cut their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $122.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.27.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $70.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.55. Dollar General has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after buying an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,650,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth about $2,018,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Dollar General by 231.6% in the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after buying an additional 26,165 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 62.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 166,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,087,000 after buying an additional 64,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.