Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $2.86 Million Investment in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 37,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,856,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at about $194,832,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,450 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Dollar General by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after acquiring an additional 759,869 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $83.84 on Friday. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $164.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 46.18%.

About Dollar General

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.