Ameriprise Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 18.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,306 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,453 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $8,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Dollar General by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,913,036,000 after acquiring an additional 160,853 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,450 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,425,000 after acquiring an additional 118,204 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at about $399,433,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,994,070 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:DG opened at $100.81 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.37. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $145.94.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on DG. Melius upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, May 5th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total transaction of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares in the company, valued at $4,596,951.04. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.