Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,541 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 143.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,911,000 after buying an additional 38,182 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Dollar General by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,596,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,016,000 after acquiring an additional 476,091 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Dollar General by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,380,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,310,000 after purchasing an additional 821,608 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 71,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,885,000 after purchasing an additional 27,170 shares during the period. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth about $630,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE DG opened at $87.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.14. The company has a market cap of $19.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $66.43 and a 1-year high of $156.60.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DG shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Dollar General in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised shares of Dollar General from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $101.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down previously from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.75.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.