LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Trims Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lowered its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 46.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,465 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,991 shares during the quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $218,000. Peoples Bank KS grew its stake in Dollar General by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Dollar General by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 253,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,401,000 after purchasing an additional 6,372 shares during the period. Finally, Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at $263,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bernstein Bank decreased their target price on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $122.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.18.

Dollar General Stock Performance

DG stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.44. 2,565,502 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,460,972. The firm has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $70.15 and a 1-year high of $168.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.37.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. 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.