Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target Lowered to $93.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $104.00 to $93.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

DG has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. HSBC reduced their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bernstein Bank lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.77.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $71.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.41. The stock has a market cap of $15.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the third quarter worth about $194,832,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after buying an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Dollar General by 319.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 925,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,324,000 after buying an additional 704,639 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,932,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.