Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Upgraded at Melius Research

Melius Research upgraded shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Melius upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.75.

Dollar General Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $87.45 on Tuesday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $80.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.21. Dollar General has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $156.25. The company has a market capitalization of $19.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,913,036,000 after purchasing an additional 160,853 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528,450 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,425,000 after purchasing an additional 118,204 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its position in Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,424,000 after buying an additional 3,994,070 shares during 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.