Merit Financial Group LLC Has $304,000 Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,233 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,083 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DG. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Dollar General by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,973,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 0.7% in the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 48.3% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 304 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DG shares. Argus lifted their target price on Dollar General from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Dollar General in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.08.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DG opened at $137.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $30.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $149.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.15. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $101.09 and a one year high of $221.50.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $9.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.96 earnings per share. Dollar General’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following 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 currently owned by company insiders.

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.