Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Stock Price

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $110.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.61% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $169.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of Dollar General from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $168.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.45.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $75.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.18. Dollar General has a twelve month low of $73.51 and a twelve month high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The company had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General will post 5.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $80.83 per share, with a total value of $80,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 42,030 shares in the company, valued at $3,397,284.90. The trade was a 2.44 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Dollar General by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after acquiring an additional 26,813 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,650,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 231.6% during the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 26,165 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 278.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,086,000 after purchasing an additional 47,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiltearn Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,587,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.