Mariner LLC Acquires 79,759 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Mariner LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 140.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,717 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 79,759 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC owned 0.06% of Dollar General worth $10,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on DG shares. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Gordon Haskett cut Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.75.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DG traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $94.91. 1,221,361 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,881,152. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $83.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.63. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $147.87. 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 (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

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.