Melius Upgrades Dollar General (NYSE:DG) to “Buy”

Melius upgraded shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. Melius currently has $110.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America decreased their price target on Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.75.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $87.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $156.60.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. This represents a 1.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DG. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Dollar General by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Dollar General by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in Dollar General by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.