Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Given New $115.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Free Report) had its target price upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $96.00 to $115.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on DG. Melius raised shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Dollar General from a "reduce" rating to an "accumulate" rating in a report on Tuesday. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.04.

Dollar General Stock Up 1.8%

DG traded up $2.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $113.83. The company had a trading volume of 4,534,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,070,761. Dollar General has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $135.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.26. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $93.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.03.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The firm had revenue of $10.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,994,070 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $140,421,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Dollar General by 323.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Dollar General by 5,440.2% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,582,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $139,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,004 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.