Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $82,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Dollar General by 18.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,711,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,297,067,000 after buying an additional 3,457,393 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Dollar General by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,346,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,278,000 after purchasing an additional 62,913 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Dollar General by 98.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,106,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,141 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 44.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,572,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,394,000 after buying an additional 481,881 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 78.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,426,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,904,000 after buying an additional 627,844 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Dollar General from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.08.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Dollar General stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $142.52. 721,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,306,629. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $101.09 and a twelve month high of $222.99.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.09. Dollar General had a return on equity of 26.13% and a net margin of 4.29%. The business had revenue of $9.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Dollar General news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total value of $468,561.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at $505,778.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.