Northwest Bancshares Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,571 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,267 shares during the quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $3,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 310.2% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 8,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 6,583 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 170,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,677,000 after purchasing an additional 7,986 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 190,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,771,000 after purchasing an additional 59,186 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of DG opened at $76.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $73.51 and a 1 year high of $168.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.14. The firm has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The business had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 8th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Bernstein Bank lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of Dollar General from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $168.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $155.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.00.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $762,819.75. The trade was a 21.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $174,186.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,187.42. The trade was a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.