Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target Raised to $115.00 at Morgan Stanley

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

DG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Dollar General from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “reduce” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.04.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $113.47 on Wednesday. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $135.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $10.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 46.18%.

Insider Activity 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 value of $76,628.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth about $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at about $140,421,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 323.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797,776 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Dollar General by 5,440.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,582,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554,004 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.