Short Interest in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Increases By 8.5%

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,860,000 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the March 31st total of 6,320,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $153.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at $4,636,371.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Dollar General news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total value of $468,561.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 200 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 78.0% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 219 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.4 %

DG stock traded down $1.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $139.19. 1,752,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,308,956. The company has a market cap of $30.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's 50-day moving average is $150.30 and its 200-day moving average is $136.37. Dollar General has a 12 month low of $101.09 and a 12 month high of $221.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.77 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 4.29% and a return on equity of 26.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Dollar General will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

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.

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