Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $203,000 Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,676 shares of the company’s stock after selling 871 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $194,832,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 759,869 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in Dollar General in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,932,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in Dollar General by 60.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 951,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,454,000 after purchasing an additional 359,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG stock opened at $72.57 on Friday. 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 Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $168.07. The stock has a market cap of $15.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.86.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The business had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Dollar General’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

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.