Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP lowered its position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 81.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,911 shares of the company's stock after selling 29,687 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Dollar General were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 101,424 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,411,000 after acquiring an additional 17,849 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 790 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 12,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,661 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 203,880 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,959,000 after acquiring an additional 6,144 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 151,702 shares of the company's stock worth $20,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,665 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup cut shares of Dollar General from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a "hold" rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.27.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DG traded down $1.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $76.94. 3,770,999 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,288,304. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $16.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $79.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.39. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $72.12 and a twelve month high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.07%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.