Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Position in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 75.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,953 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,189 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.06% of Dollar General worth $10,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Peoples Bank KS boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank KS now owns 1,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 4,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.44, for a total transaction of $367,065.60. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Dollar General Price Performance

DG stock opened at $71.91 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $75.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.61. Dollar General Co. has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $168.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 7th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Dollar General from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Dollar General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.77.

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.