Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Price Target Lowered to $88.00 at HSBC

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective dropped by analysts at HSBC from $100.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. HSBC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.13% from the company’s current price.

DG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $101.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.45.

Dollar General Stock Performance

DG traded down $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.78. 2,026,922 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,192,223. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. Dollar General has a 52 week low of $73.51 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $81.98 and a 200 day moving average of $110.84.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General will post 5.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at $250,187.42. The trade was a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total value of $208,957.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $762,819.75. This represents a 21.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DG. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Dollar General by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113,485 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 11.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,031,593 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new stake in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,832,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.