Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Reaches New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $97.00 to $82.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Dollar General traded as low as $77.66 and last traded at $78.78, with a volume of 1729289 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $81.57.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on DG. Gordon Haskett cut Dollar General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a 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 cut Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $80.40 per share, with a total value of $40,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 41,030 shares in the company, valued at $3,298,812. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Dollar General news, Director Warren F. Bryant bought 500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $80.40 per share, for a total transaction of $40,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,298,812. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Dollar General by 85.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after buying an additional 26,813 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter valued at about $5,650,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 231.6% in the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 26,165 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 278.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,086,000 after purchasing an additional 47,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiltearn Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,587,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Price Performance

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 fifty day simple moving average of $82.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.38. The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.45.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The company had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.65%.

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.