LPL Financial LLC Buys 35,735 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 27.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,917 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 35,735 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Dollar General worth $12,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company's stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,297 shares of the company's stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 126.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 498 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upgraded Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 note on Thursday, March 6th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.65.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.5 %

Dollar General stock traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $92.11. 7,923,734 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,769,256. 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 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $159.52. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $78.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Dollar General's payout ratio is 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.