Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $2.49 Million Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,834 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $2,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 90.3% in the fourth quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 97,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,402,000 after acquiring an additional 46,315 shares during the last quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 3,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 69,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,279,000 after acquiring an additional 32,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 96.1% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 742,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,269,000 after acquiring an additional 363,739 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other 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 transaction of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on DG shares. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.77.

Dollar General Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of DG opened at $74.15 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $73.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.82. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 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.