Achmea Investment Management B.V. Increases Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,996 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,819 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 14.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 182,300 shares in the last quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter worth about $194,832,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dollar General Trading Down 1.0 %

DG opened at $79.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.39. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $164.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 18.85% and a net margin of 3.33%. Dollar General’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 46.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DG. Gordon Haskett cut Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC reduced their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is 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.