Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC reduced its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 79.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,577 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,050 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in Dollar General were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Dollar General by 453.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company's stock worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company's stock worth $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,832,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,355,000 after buying an additional 31,200 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company's stock worth $169,257,000 after acquiring an additional 765,206 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Dollar General Stock Performance

DG stock traded up $2.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $76.40. The company had a trading volume of 5,794,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,307,119. The company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $72.12 and a twelve month high of $168.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.54.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. 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 3.09%. Dollar General's payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DG. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Bernstein Bank dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.27.

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.