Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the twenty-five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have assigned a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $94.75.

DG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Dollar General Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $92.11 on Tuesday. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $147.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $86.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.27. 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 earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 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 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.18%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company's stock worth $1,913,036,000 after acquiring an additional 160,853 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.5% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,770,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,122,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,206 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,425,000 after purchasing an additional 118,204 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company's stock worth $306,424,000 after buying an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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