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

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of 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. Based on an average trading volume of 3,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dollar General

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Probity Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 714.4% during the fourth quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 25,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,924,000 after acquiring an additional 22,255 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 390.9% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 12,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 9,897 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,114,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Dollar General by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 71,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,389,000 after purchasing an additional 27,170 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DG. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on Dollar General from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bernstein Bank lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.26.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock traded up $5.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $81.27. 3,534,807 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,433,401. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50-day moving average is $73.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Dollar General has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The business had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Dollar General will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.