Oakworth Capital Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Oakworth Capital Inc. lowered its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 78.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,965 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. bought a new position in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,650,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Dollar General by 231.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after buying an additional 26,165 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 166,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,087,000 after buying an additional 64,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.77.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG opened at $72.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a PE ratio of 11.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.55. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $10.18 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.