Strs Ohio Lowers Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,721 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,432 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $7,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Dollar General by 18.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,711,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,297,067,000 after buying an additional 3,457,393 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,765,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,055,202,000 after purchasing an additional 994,813 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Dollar General by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,744,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,412 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Dollar General by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,346,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,278,000 after purchasing an additional 62,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth approximately $564,881,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DG. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Dollar General from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James increased their price objective on Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Dollar General from $147.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.08.

Dollar General Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE DG opened at $144.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $31.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $149.24 and its 200 day moving average is $133.78. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $101.09 and a 12 month high of $222.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 26.13% and a net margin of 4.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is presently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at $505,778.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at $4,636,371.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.