Steph & Co. Makes New $315,000 Investment in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Steph & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company's stock worth $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Dollar General by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company's stock valued at $441,899,000 after acquiring an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Dollar General by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,355,000 after acquiring an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Dollar General from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.18.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

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

Dollar General Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:DG traded up $0.78 on Thursday, hitting $69.35. 5,024,368 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,963,441. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company's 50-day moving average price is $75.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. Dollar General's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

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.