Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,682 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,371 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Dollar General worth $18,855,000 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 company. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 453.4% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after buying an additional 8,388,735 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA acquired a new stake in Dollar General during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $194,832,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,932,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 60.8% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 951,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,454,000 after purchasing an additional 359,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $79.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.43. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $168.07. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.89 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $10.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total value of $367,065.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,128. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DG shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Dollar General from $94.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Dollar General from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.