Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius Research

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

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Melius upgraded Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Gordon Haskett lowered Dollar General from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $80.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.75.

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Dollar General Stock Performance

DG stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $89.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,315,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,838,852. The stock's 50 day moving average is $80.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.19. The firm has a market cap of $19.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. Dollar General has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $150.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. Dollar General's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the business's 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 directly owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its position in Dollar General by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company's stock worth $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,018,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in Dollar General by 5,624.9% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 321,623 shares of the company's stock worth $24,385,000 after purchasing an additional 316,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY purchased a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,158,000. 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.