Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 101,218 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 155.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 166,444 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 101,218 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.08% of Dollar General worth $12,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the fourth 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $140,421,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company's stock valued at $892,199,000 after buying an additional 1,528,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company's stock worth $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following 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 represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Dollar General Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:DG traded up $0.67 on Friday, reaching $87.80. 1,503,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,824,831. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $66.43 and a 1-year high of $156.25. The company's 50 day moving average is $80.00 and its 200-day moving average is $78.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. Dollar General's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Dollar General's payout ratio is 46.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on DG. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup raised Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.75.

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.