Kwmg LLC Acquires 7,655 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Kwmg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,069 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,655 shares during the period. Kwmg LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $3,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 5,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Dollar General by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 47,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,615,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its holdings in Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were 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 approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction 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. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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 note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.18.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DG traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $71.58. 4,017,939 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,758,930. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.47. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $70.15 and a 52 week high of $168.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

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.