Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Downgraded by Gordon Haskett to Hold

Gordon Haskett cut shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG – Get Rating) from an accumulate rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday, The Fly reports. They currently have $220.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $230.00.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on DG. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Dollar General from $237.00 to $211.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Dollar General from $255.00 to $235.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Dollar General from $276.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Credit Suisse Group began coverage on Dollar General in a research report on Monday, December 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Dollar General from $265.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, December 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $250.50.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.5 %

DG stock traded down $3.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $208.83. 7,689,851 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,101,594. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $226.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $239.17. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $183.25 and a 52-week high of $262.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.34.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 16th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.02. Dollar General had a return on equity of 38.43% and a net margin of 6.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 10th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. This is a boost from Dollar General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.93, for a total transaction of $475,907.43. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,334,957.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $564,881,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Dollar General by 124.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,193,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,308,000 after buying an additional 1,770,718 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 25.5% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,002,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,718,731,000 after buying an additional 1,424,310 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Dollar General by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,744,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,329,000 after buying an additional 1,318,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,201,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,242,000 after buying an additional 1,137,029 shares in the last quarter. 90.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Dollar General Company Profile

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Dollar General Corp. engages in the operation of merchandise stores. Its offerings include food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, housewares, and seasonal items. It sells brands including Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo The company was founded by J.