BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its target price reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on DG. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $95.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bernstein Bank reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lowered shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.00.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $73.25 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $81.54 and its 200-day moving average is $108.89. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $72.12 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.37, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. This trade represents a 21.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the completion of 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 41.05 % 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

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Dollar General by 453.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after acquiring an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in Dollar General during the third quarter worth about $194,832,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Dollar General by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after buying an additional 2,113,485 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Dollar General by 11.2% in the 1st 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. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Dollar General by 148.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,257,000 after buying an additional 765,206 shares during the period. 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.