Hixon Zuercher LLC Sells 837 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Hixon Zuercher LLC decreased its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,277 shares of the company’s stock after selling 837 shares during the quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $779,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Dollar General by 453.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after acquiring an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in Dollar General in the third quarter worth $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Dollar General by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after buying an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America raised Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. HSBC lowered their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $72.21 on Friday. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The company has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.39.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced 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 return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Dollar General 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.