Providence First Trust Co Purchases Shares of 433 Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter valued at approximately $194,832,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 952.4% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 659,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,028,000 after purchasing an additional 597,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,932,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $74.25 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $168.07. 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 (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). The business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bernstein Bank decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.