Kentucky Trust Co Buys Shares of 627 Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at $194,832,000. State Street Corp grew 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 valued at $842,208,000 after buying an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,932,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 60.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 951,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,454,000 after buying an additional 359,757 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of DG stock opened at $73.83 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.14 and its 200-day moving average is $85.02. The stock has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $168.07.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were 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 directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This trade represents 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DG shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

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.