Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Bought by Professional Advisory Services Inc.

Professional Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 152,586 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 40,151 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Dollar General worth $11,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth about $1,679,000. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its stake in Dollar General by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 2,000 shares of the company's stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC raised its position in Dollar General by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares during the period. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Finally, Foundation Resource Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundation Resource Management Inc. now owns 99,148 shares of the company's stock worth $7,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DG traded down $0.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.44. The stock had a trading volume of 3,380,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,174,597. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $75.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Dollar General's revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Dollar General from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Dollar General in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bernstein Bank cut their target price on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.18.

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.