Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $110.00 to $90.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on DG. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, August 26th. Daiwa America downgraded Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Raymond James cut their target price on Dollar General from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.45.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $75.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.99. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $73.51 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $762,819.75. This represents a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. The trade was a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Dollar General by 3.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 64,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,493 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter worth $2,014,000. First National Bank of Omaha raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 23.9% during the third quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 66,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,644,000 after acquiring an additional 12,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in Dollar General by 6.1% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.