Insider Selling: Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Director Sells 3,009 Shares of Stock

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $147.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.15. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $101.09 and a 1-year high of $222.99. The stock has a market cap of $32.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.42.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. Dollar General had a return on equity of 26.13% and a net margin of 4.29%. The business had revenue of $9.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 1st quarter worth $474,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 58,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,098,000 after purchasing an additional 12,262 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Dollar General by 156.4% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Dollar General by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 71,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,947,000 after acquiring an additional 10,773 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Dollar General from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $120.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.96.

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.