Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Barclays from $102.00 to $100.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 39.61% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC dropped their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.18.

Dollar General Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE DG traded down $2.54 on Thursday, reaching $71.63. The stock had a trading volume of 5,782,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,681,010. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $70.15 and a 12-month high of $168.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. Dollar General’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Dollar General by 30.6% in the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 7.3% in the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 1,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Lummis Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 1.2% during the second quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 9,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Dollar General by 2.0% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 117.7% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.