Evercore ISI Has Lowered Expectations for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price cut by Evercore ISI from $101.00 to $97.00 in a report published on Friday morning. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on DG. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley cut Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

Dollar General Stock Up 1.6 %

DG stock opened at $77.09 on Friday. Dollar General has a 1-year low of $73.51 and a 1-year high of $168.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.65%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total value of $208,957.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $762,819.75. The trade was a 21.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 453.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the third quarter valued at approximately $194,832,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 11.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after buying an additional 2,113,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 11.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,217,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,155,141,000 after buying an additional 2,031,593 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,257,000 after acquiring an additional 765,206 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.