Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Stake Raised by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 2,731.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 195,202 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 188,308 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.09% of Dollar General worth $14,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Community Trust & Investment Co. acquired a new stake in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth about $410,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth about $668,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $620,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. Finally, Kwmg LLC lifted its position in Dollar General by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 49,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,720,000 after buying an additional 7,655 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DG shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Dollar General from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.18.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of DG traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.44. The stock had a trading volume of 3,380,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,174,597. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $75.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.85.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related 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 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 $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company's stock, 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 currently owned by insiders.

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.