Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,744 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,317 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $7,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 126.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $76.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.26 and a 200 day moving average of $82.67. The firm has a market cap of $16.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DG. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This trade 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 owned by company insiders.

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.