Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 12.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,919 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,009 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of DG. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 8,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 1st quarter valued at about $13,043,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 35,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 118.4% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 28,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,241 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Up 2.2 %

DG stock opened at $76.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.44. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $72.12 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The firm 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 company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DG. Daiwa America cut shares of Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of Dollar General from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $168.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dollar General news, EVP Steven R. Deckard sold 2,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $174,186.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,887 shares in the company, valued at $250,187.42. This represents a 41.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.