FORA Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

FORA Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 296.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 97,417 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 72,859 shares during the quarter. Dollar General makes up approximately 1.0% of FORA Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $8,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,832,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Dollar General by 148.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,257,000 after purchasing an additional 765,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 60.8% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 951,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,454,000 after purchasing an additional 359,757 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DG shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $95.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group cut Dollar General from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $168.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.00.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of DG traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.45. 482,304 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,211,635. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $72.12 and a 52-week high of $168.07. The company has a market cap of $16.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.59, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.87.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The firm had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $80.40 per share, for a total transaction of $40,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 41,030 shares in the company, valued at $3,298,812. The trade was a 1.23 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $208,957.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,163 shares in the company, valued at $762,819.75. This represents a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.