Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Stonegate Investment Group LLC

Stonegate Investment Group LLC decreased its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 381 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DG. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $502,000. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY bought a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,158,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Dollar General by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 28,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,166,000 after buying an additional 7,035 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,168,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Dollar General by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DG. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Dollar General in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bernstein Bank lowered their target price on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $72.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.51. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $168.07.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

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