Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Lowered to “Outperform” at Raymond James

Raymond James cut shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $160.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $200.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Jaffray Companies cut shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. VNET Group reissued a maintains rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Atlantic Securities cut shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the company from $210.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $164.86.

Dollar General Trading Down 5.9 %

Shares of DG opened at $130.30 on Friday. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $128.48 and a 52-week high of $261.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $164.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.33. The stock has a market cap of $28.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.28.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.47 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $9.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.93 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 6.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.24%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, CEO Jeffery Owen bought 1,500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $157.86 per share, with a total value of $236,790.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,720 shares in the company, valued at $8,795,959.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert bought 2,500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $155.25 per share, with a total value of $388,125.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 116,682 shares in the company, valued at $18,114,880.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffery Owen bought 1,500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $157.86 per share, for a total transaction of $236,790.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 55,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,795,959.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Manhattan Co. increased its stake in Dollar General by 447.4% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Dollar General in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Dollar General in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Dollar General in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.37% 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.