650,000 Shares in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Bought by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 650,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,198,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in Dollar General by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank KS raised its holdings in Dollar General by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Dollar General from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.09.

Dollar General Trading Down 4.9 %

Dollar General stock opened at $74.78 on Thursday. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $66.43 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.69.

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.