Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. decreased its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,508 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,140 shares during the quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at about $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at about $140,421,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Dollar General by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,380,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,310,000 after purchasing an additional 821,608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $93.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $147.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $88.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.95.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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. Finally, Melius upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.16.

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.