The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $104.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $122.00 to $104.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on DG. UBS Group reduced their price target on Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Bernstein Bank dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.27.

Dollar General Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $81.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $72.12 and a 12-month high of $168.07. The company has a market cap of $17.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.33.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The firm had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, Director Warren F. Bryant acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $80.83 per share, for a total transaction of $80,830.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 42,030 shares in the company, valued at $3,397,284.90. The trade was a 2.44 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,187.42. This trade represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DG. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 117.7% during the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 30.6% in the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.