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

Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.77.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $72.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Dollar General has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The company has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.39.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DG. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. bought a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,650,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,018,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 231.6% during the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 26,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Dollar General by 62.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 166,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,087,000 after purchasing an additional 64,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.