Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 118,204 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,361,216 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 118,204 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.44% of Dollar General worth $405,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $140,421,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,528,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down previously from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.75.

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Dollar General Trading Up 0.4 %

Dollar General stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $86.37. The stock had a trading volume of 2,882,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,283,951. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $79.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $156.25. The firm has a market cap of $19.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Equities 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.18%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is 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.