Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Sells 122 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lessened its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 2.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,135 shares of the company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $801,000 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. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Dollar General by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,071,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,408,514,000 after purchasing an additional 3,360,413 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Dollar General by 11.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113,485 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Dollar General by 162.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,185,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,472,372,000 after purchasing an additional 11,257,537 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Dollar General by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,068,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,776,629,000 after acquiring an additional 133,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth about $337,150,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DG shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.86.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DG traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $118.09. 1,577,358 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,407,047. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $101.09 and a 52 week high of $173.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.95.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.89 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 22.80% and a net margin of 3.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. Analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.35%.

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.