Banyan Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Banyan Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 68,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,164,000. Dollar General makes up about 3.1% of Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Dollar General by 99.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 4.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 505,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,727,000 after buying an additional 22,277 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 231.6% during the third quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after buying an additional 26,165 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in Dollar General by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 99,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,412,000 after acquiring an additional 4,888 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel Inc raised its stake in Dollar General by 635.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 27,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after acquiring an additional 24,080 shares during 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 other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.8 %

DG stock opened at $75.59 on Thursday. 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 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.32.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released 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 return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.77.

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.