Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,535 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DG. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 785 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 754 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,973,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 78.0% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 219 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,460,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on DG. Barclays upgraded shares of Dollar General from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $124.00 to $154.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

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

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of Dollar General stock traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $142.07. 1,378,667 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,915,899. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.46. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $101.09 and a 52-week high of $222.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.42.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 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.