National Pension Service Sells 118,419 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

National Pension Service lowered its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 363,725 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,419 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $27,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Dollar General by 453.4% during 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after acquiring an additional 182,300 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth about $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after acquiring an additional 31,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DG shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bernstein Bank lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.77.

Dollar General Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE DG opened at $74.25 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.22. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.