Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $178.00. The company traded as high as $156.28 and last traded at $156.1670, with a volume of 465490 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.96.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $113.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $127.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on Dollar General from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.85.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Wheeler sold 9,776 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.32, for a total value of $1,322,888.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,016,959.40. This trade represents a 30.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Anita C. Elliott sold 2,516 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.52, for a total transaction of $333,420.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 29,344 shares in the company, valued at $3,888,666.88. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 58,673 shares of company stock worth $7,713,389 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Dollar General

Here are the key news stories impacting Dollar General this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target on DG to $178, signaling confidence in the company’s outlook and providing a meaningful upside reference for investors. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer boosted its target to $170 and moved to an “outperform” stance, adding another institutional endorsement of DG’s turnaround momentum. The Fly
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim earlier raised its target to $165 citing accelerating top-line momentum — the pattern of multiple analysts nudging targets higher supports positive sentiment around DG’s sales recovery. Yahoo Finance
• Positive Sentiment: Dollar General’s recent fundamentals and guidance are supportive: the company beat recent quarterly EPS and set FY2025 guidance that implies continued recovery, which underpins the analyst upgrades. MarketBeat
• Positive Sentiment: Local market and format expansion: announcements of new DG Market openings (including a Hurlock expansion and a new DG Market near Muncie offering fresh groceries) signal ongoing execution on higher-margin grocery and fresh assortments. These openings support growth/traffic improvement at the store level. WBOC The Star Press
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups and comparison pieces (Zacks, Yahoo, MSN) are highlighting DG among retail picks and comparing DG vs. larger peers like Walmart — these articles can drive interest but generally reflect second‑order effects rather than new company-specific data. Zacks Yahoo Finance MSN
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary noted DG’s recent intraday gains as broader equities dipped — useful context for sentiment flows but not a fundamental change. Yahoo Finance

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Dollar General by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,309,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,625,822,000 after buying an additional 412,542 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,017,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,727,000 after acquiring an additional 53,624 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,270,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $832,513,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,748 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,707,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,857,000 after acquiring an additional 42,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,734,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208,892 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dollar General Trading Up 0.5%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $145.02 and a 200-day moving average of $120.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $34.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.25.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $10.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.59% and a net margin of 3.03%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Dollar General has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 6th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 6th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 40.76%.

Dollar General Company Profile

Dollar General Corporation is a U.S.-based variety and discount retailer operating a large network of small-format stores that serve primarily rural and suburban communities. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DG and is headquartered in the Nashville/Goodlettsville, Tennessee area. Founded in 1939, Dollar General has grown from a regional operation into one of the nation’s prominent low-price retailers focused on convenience and value.

Dollar General’s stores offer a wide assortment of everyday consumables and household goods, including food and beverage items, cleaning supplies, health and beauty products, paper goods, apparel basics, seasonal merchandise and small household items.