Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 12.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,541 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 616 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DG. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Dollar General by 35.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 218,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,500,000 after buying an additional 57,374 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,014,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 5.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 64,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,493 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Dollar General by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in Dollar General by 21.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 4.5 %

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

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on DG. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Gordon Haskett cut Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.75.

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.