Kestra Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,096 Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Dollar General by 8.3% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Dollar General by 3.6% during the third 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 Dollar General during the third quarter worth about $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Dollar General by 2.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after purchasing an additional 31,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG stock opened at $76.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $168.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.28. 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 (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The firm 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%. Dollar General’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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 note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

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.