Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 1,876 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,229 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at $480,000. Channing Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 50,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 7,975 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Equitable Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 22,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 6,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 206.3% during the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 19,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after purchasing an additional 13,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bernstein Bank cut their target price on shares of Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Dollar General Stock Up 0.7 %

DG stock opened at $76.16 on Friday. Dollar General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. The business’s 50-day moving average is $73.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $16.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.43.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $10.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 38.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was 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 owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,128. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was 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. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Company 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.