Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Plans $0.59 Quarterly Dividend

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.59 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%.

Dollar General has increased its dividend by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years. Dollar General has a payout ratio of 38.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Dollar General to earn $6.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $79.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.22. Dollar General has a 52-week low of $72.12 and a 52-week high of $168.07.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Warren F. Bryant bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $80.83 per share, for a total transaction of $80,830.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 42,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced 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 note on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Daiwa America downgraded Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.32.

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.