Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on DG. UBS Group raised their target price on Dollar General from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a "reduce" rating to an "accumulate" rating in a report on Tuesday. Melius Research upgraded Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Dollar General from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.04.

Dollar General Trading Up 1.8%

Dollar General stock traded up $2.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $113.83. The stock had a trading volume of 4,534,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,070,761. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.26. Dollar General has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $135.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $10.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.25 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. Dollar General's payout ratio is presently 46.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Dollar General by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,433,202 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,324,271,000 after buying an additional 1,201,917 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,770,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,122,914,000 after buying an additional 1,003,206 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,425,000 after buying an additional 118,204 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,197,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $369,081,000 after buying an additional 155,966 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.