Moors & Cabot Inc. Raises Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,924 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the third quarter valued at about $856,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,491,000. Beddow Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Dollar General by 95.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,543,000 after buying an additional 32,022 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,178,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General by 9,882.7% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 5,139 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DG shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $118.00 to $95.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup lowered Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, September 27th. 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $154.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

Dollar General Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:DG opened at $74.93 on Monday. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $72.12 and a one year high of $168.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.24.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is currently 36.65%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

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

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.