Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Purchased by Quadrant Capital Group LLC

Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 116.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,193 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,716 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,711,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,297,067,000 after purchasing an additional 3,457,393 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Dollar General by 2.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,346,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,278,000 after acquiring an additional 62,913 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Dollar General by 98.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,106,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,141 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Dollar General by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,572,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,394,000 after acquiring an additional 481,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 78.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,426,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,904,000 after purchasing an additional 627,844 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DG shares. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Dollar General from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE:DG opened at $142.13 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.12. Dollar General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.09 and a fifty-two week high of $218.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 26.13% and a net margin of 4.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

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.