Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. 3,006,442 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the previous session’s volume of 3,232,312 shares.The stock last traded at $77.08 and had previously closed at $79.50.

The newly announced 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. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 36.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.32.

Dollar General Stock Down 4.3 %

The company has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $762,819.75. This represents a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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. This trade represents a 2.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dollar General

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DG. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 2,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 30.6% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 1,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lummis Asset Management LP raised its stake in Dollar General by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 9,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 115 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.