Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Patten & Patten Inc. TN

Patten & Patten Inc. TN cut its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,474 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Dollar General by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Dollar General by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its stake in Dollar General by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank KS lifted its stake in 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE:DG opened at $79.15 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $73.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.74. The firm has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $164.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. Dollar General’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.18%.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Dollar General from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.26.

Dollar General Company 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.