Gordon Haskett Downgrades Dollar General (NYSE:DG) to Hold

Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $90.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $151.00 to $148.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $161.00 to $137.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut Dollar General from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $168.00 to $103.00 in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $116.55.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.3 %

DG stock opened at $82.97 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $121.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.75. The company has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General has a fifty-two week low of $82.68 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $10.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,071,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,408,514,000 after acquiring an additional 3,360,413 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Dollar General by 11.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 11.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,068,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,776,629,000 after buying an additional 133,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth about $337,150,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.