Steph & Co. Invests $315,000 in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Steph & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the third quarter worth approximately $5,650,000. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 231.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 37,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 26,165 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,018,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Dollar General by 62.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 166,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,087,000 after acquiring an additional 64,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiltearn Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Dollar General during the second quarter worth $9,587,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $68.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $15.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $68.52 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.61.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now 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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DG. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Dollar General from $122.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.18.

Dollar General Company 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.