Bank of Stockton Cuts Stock Holdings in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)

Bank of Stockton cut its stake in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) by 17.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,038 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $140,421,000. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in Dollar General by 323.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,491,000 after buying an additional 1,797,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Dollar General by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,199,000 after buying an additional 1,528,450 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $101.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Melius Research raised Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Dollar General to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,596,951.04. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen A. Reardon sold 6,438 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.56, for a total value of $718,223.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,646 shares in the company, valued at $4,646,027.76. This represents a 13.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,216 shares of company stock valued at $1,017,349 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of DG opened at $112.92 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Dollar General Corporation has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $135.46.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $10.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 17.93%. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.04%.

Dollar General Company 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.