Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Raises Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,657 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,863 shares during the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $6,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted 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 last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after buying an additional 182,300 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Dollar General by 2.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after buying an additional 31,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DG. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Gordon Haskett downgraded Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Bernstein Bank cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % 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.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $72.51 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.45. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS 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 business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 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.