Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,373,333 shares of the company's stock after selling 308,328 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.62% of Dollar General worth $104,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Dollar General by 279.8% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 490 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $80.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Melius upgraded Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $94.75.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Dollar General Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DG traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.94. 987,192 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,254,255. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $81.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.28. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $147.87. The firm has a market cap of $19.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G 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 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 business had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.18%.

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.