Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,231,285 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 160,853 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.47% of Dollar General worth $1,913,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC boosted its position in Dollar General by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth $2,018,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 5,624.9% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 321,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,385,000 after buying an additional 316,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 710.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 25,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,143,000 after buying an additional 22,217 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on Dollar General from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $84.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.76. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $164.12.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 46.18%.

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.