Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Takes Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 4.3% during the second quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 2,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Dollar General by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 3.8% in the second quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 7.3% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 1,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its position in Dollar General by 1.2% during the second quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 9,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Up 3.4 %

DG opened at $76.40 on Monday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.44. Dollar General Co. has a 1-year low of $72.12 and a 1-year high of $168.07.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The company had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on DG. Morgan Stanley lowered Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America upgraded Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on shares of Dollar General from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,128. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.