M&T Bank Corp Trims Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

M&T Bank Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,384 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,709 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $2,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 64,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,493 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Dollar General during the third quarter valued at $2,014,000. First National Bank of Omaha increased its holdings in Dollar General by 23.9% in the third quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 66,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,644,000 after buying an additional 12,863 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 6.1% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 218,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,500,000 after acquiring an additional 57,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on DG. Evercore ISI cut 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. Citigroup cut shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $122.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.27.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG stock opened at $76.94 on Friday. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $72.12 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.68. The stock has a market cap of $16.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $10.18 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

Dollar General 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.