Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,741 shares of the company’s stock after selling 720 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Dollar General by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,711,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,297,067,000 after acquiring an additional 3,457,393 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Dollar General by 98.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,106,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,141 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA lifted its position in Dollar General by 283.1% during the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 927,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,077,000 after purchasing an additional 685,000 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,426,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,904,000 after buying an additional 627,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 744.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 638,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,574,000 after buying an additional 563,095 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DG. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Dollar General from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total value of $468,561.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,778.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Dollar General news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total value of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of DG opened at $139.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $101.09 and a 52 week high of $221.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $150.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. Dollar General had a net margin of 4.29% and a return on equity of 26.13%. The firm had revenue of $9.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.96 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

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.