abrdn plc Trims Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

abrdn plc lowered its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,642 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,346 shares during the period. abrdn plc's holdings in Dollar General were worth $5,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company's stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 13.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,058 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DG. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised Dollar General from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. HSBC cut their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $96.77.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE DG traded down $0.95 during trading on Thursday, reaching $72.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,800,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,380,876. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.03 and a 200 day moving average of $84.94. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.43.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

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.