FIL Ltd Has $143.53 Million Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

FIL Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,893,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 682,000 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.86% of Dollar General worth $143,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Dollar General by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,913,036,000 after buying an additional 160,853 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,450 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Dollar General by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,425,000 after purchasing an additional 118,204 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DG shares. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upgraded Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Monday. Barclays decreased their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.75.

Dollar General Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $87.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $156.60.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Dollar General’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 46.18%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.