Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 64.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,354,248 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 531,884 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.62% of Dollar General worth $102,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 28,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at $2,018,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 5,624.9% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 321,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,385,000 after buying an additional 316,005 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth $6,158,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of 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, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:DG opened at $86.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.85. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $164.12. The company has a market capitalization of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.18%.

About Dollar General

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.