Short Interest in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Decreases By 14.6%

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,040,000 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the January 31st total of 12,930,000 shares. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America upgraded Dollar General from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $96.04.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $72.98 on Wednesday. Dollar General has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $168.07. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $73.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DG. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 7,892 shares of the company's stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Dollar General by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 79,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,746,000 after buying an additional 21,128 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Dollar General by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Dollar General by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 21,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 4,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in Dollar General by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 482,144 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,775,000 after buying an additional 4,278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.