Kathleen A. Reardon Sells 6,438 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Stock

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) EVP Kathleen A. Reardon sold 6,438 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.56, for a total value of $718,223.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,646,027.76. The trade was a 13.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Dollar General Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of DG stock traded up $2.57 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $114.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,566,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,084,302. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.92. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $135.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.26.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.32. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Dollar General by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,534 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Dollar General by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 107,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,137,000 after buying an additional 16,453 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 74.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 5,171 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DG shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Dollar General from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James upped their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $96.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Fifteen 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.04.

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.