Graham Capital Management L.P. Reduces Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Graham Capital Management L.P. decreased its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 39.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,284 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,399 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $3,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Dollar General during the third quarter worth $33,000. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 279.8% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. This represents a 1.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $91.70 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.62. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $147.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $20.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.27.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DG shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Melius upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup raised Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.16.

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.