Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Trims Stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,968 shares of the company’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DG. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its position in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after buying an additional 3,994,070 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Dollar General by 8.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth $49,198,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.26.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $86.03 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.87. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $66.43 and a 1-year high of $164.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is presently 46.18%.

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.