Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $70.89 and last traded at $71.19, with a volume of 1203969 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $74.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DG shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Gordon Haskett raised Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Melius Research began coverage on Dollar General in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.27.

Dollar General Trading Down 4.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.69.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the 3rd 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. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter worth $194,832,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Dollar General by 148.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,257,000 after purchasing an additional 765,206 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the third 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, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 319.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 925,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,324,000 after buying an additional 704,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.