Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Dollar General (NYSE:DG) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $166.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $128.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on DG. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $112.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Dollar General from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.52.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $136.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.21. Dollar General has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $137.60. The company has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.27.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.33. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.59% and a net margin of 3.03%.The business had revenue of $10.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Dollar General has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.500 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 6th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 6th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 40.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Anita C. Elliott sold 2,516 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.52, for a total value of $333,420.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 29,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,888,666.88. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Tracey N. Herrmann sold 12,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.07, for a total value of $1,573,755.81. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,948 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,870,666.36. The trade was a 28.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,897 shares of company stock worth $6,390,501. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its stake in Dollar General by 119.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 36,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,729,000 after acquiring an additional 19,673 shares during the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC bought a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $497,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Dollar General by 159.1% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 103,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,718,000 after purchasing an additional 63,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.