JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target to $82.00

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $97.00 to $82.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Dollar General from $169.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Melius Research initiated coverage on Dollar General in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $95.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.05.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:DG traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $77.81. 621,948 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,165,245. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.68 and a 200-day moving average of $113.38. Dollar General has a fifty-two week low of $76.76 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The firm had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total value of $208,957.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $250,187.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Dollar General by 11.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,244,491,000 after buying an additional 2,113,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 11.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,217,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,155,141,000 after buying an additional 2,031,593 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,257,000 after buying an additional 765,206 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in Dollar General by 60.8% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 951,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,454,000 after buying an additional 359,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 319.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 925,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,324,000 after purchasing an additional 704,639 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently 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.