Acropolis Investment Management LLC Grows Stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Acropolis Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,293 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,148 shares during the quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Dollar General by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Dollar General by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after buying an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on 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. Barclays decreased their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $122.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.18.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE DG opened at $68.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.52 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter 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 anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.88%.

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.