SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 2,436 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 109.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,660 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,436 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DG. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 23.6% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 7,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 6.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 333,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,166,000 after purchasing an additional 20,655 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 36.0% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,746,000 after purchasing an additional 21,128 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Dollar General by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Dollar General by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 21,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 3.2 %

DG opened at $71.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 12 month low of $66.43 and a 12 month high of $168.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’s 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 $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was 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. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.