Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 5,771 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,085 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,771 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 23.6% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 7,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 36.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,746,000 after acquiring an additional 21,128 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 1.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 28.0% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 21,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 0.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 482,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,278 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction 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. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.04.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of DG stock opened at $73.80 on Thursday. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $168.07. The stock has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.23.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.