Dollar General to Join S&P 500

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Shares of Dollar General Corp. inched up early Tuesday following the disclosure that the company will be added to the S&P 500 Index after the close of stock trading this Friday.

The addition will likely cause more demand for the stock, analysts said, as investors who follow the indices add shares of the dollar-store chain to their portfolios.

“When [Dollar General] is added to the S&P 500, passive indexers will need to buy [about] 29.2 million shares,” Deborah Weinswig, an analyst at Citigroup, said in a research note. “This demand would drive an estimated 6% increase in the stock price, excluding any overhang from shares sold by current shareholders.”

Dollar General is slated to replace Cooper Industries, which is being acquired, on the index. The company became eligible to join the S&P 500 following a secondary stock offering in March that increased its shares available for trading, analysts said.

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“This addition will likely create significant incremental near-term demand,” said John Heinbockel, an analyst with Guggenheim Securities, in a research note.

Dollar General is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on Dec. 11.