Rothschild Investment LLC Increases Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,488 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Dollar General by 453.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after buying an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,899,000 after purchasing an additional 182,300 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter worth $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,355,000 after purchasing an additional 31,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.6 %

DG opened at $78.53 on Wednesday. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $73.39 and its 200-day moving average is $81.88.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bernstein Bank cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

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.