Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 153 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,768 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Dollar General by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,244,491,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113,485 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 11.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,217,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,155,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,031,593 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,257,000 after buying an additional 765,206 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Dollar General by 319.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 925,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,324,000 after buying an additional 704,639 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP bought a new stake in Dollar General during the 1st quarter worth approximately $87,081,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. The trade was a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $80.40 per share, with a total value of $40,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,298,812. This trade represents a 1.23 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DG shares. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $95.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Dollar General from $101.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bernstein Bank lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.45.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of DG opened at $75.88 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $73.51 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 36.65%.

About Dollar General

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.