Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price Up 5.4% – Time to Buy?

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)’s share price was up 5.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $80.43 and last traded at $80.34. Approximately 2,314,775 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 3,401,433 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.26.

Dollar General Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.20. The company has a market capitalization of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

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

Insider Activity

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 36.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,746,000 after purchasing an additional 21,128 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Dollar General by 1.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Dollar General by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 21,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 482,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,775,000 after buying an additional 4,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 0.7% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 81,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,924,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% 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.