Avanza Fonder AB Acquires New Stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 22,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,679,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Dollar General by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after acquiring an additional 182,300 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after purchasing an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on DG. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. Citigroup lowered shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were 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 $9,056,636.94. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG stock opened at $68.44 on Friday. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.85. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is presently 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.