Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 126.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 498 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,208,000 after buying an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,899,000 after buying an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter valued at $194,832,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 2.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,434,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,355,000 after buying an additional 31,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Dollar General from $97.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. HSBC lowered their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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. Finally, Bernstein Bank lowered their target price on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. This trade 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 company insiders.

Dollar General Stock Down 0.6 %

Dollar General stock opened at $78.53 on Wednesday. Dollar General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.07. 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 capitalization of $17.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.88.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.88%.

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.