B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Cuts Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG reduced its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,950 shares of the company’s stock after selling 510 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $2,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at $140,421,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528,450 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after buying an additional 759,869 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DG shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.26.

Dollar General Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $90.19 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $77.22 and a 200-day moving average of $77.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86, 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. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $164.12.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. 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 company earned $1.83 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

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.