Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 105.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,459 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,808 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Dollar General by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS raised 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 worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Dollar General by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 7,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Dollar General by 126.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DG. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Dollar General from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Dollar General from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Dollar General has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.26.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $81.44 on Wednesday. Dollar General Co. has a 52-week low of $66.43 and a 52-week high of $164.12. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.92 and its 200 day moving average is $77.70. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.18%.

Insider Activity

In other Dollar General news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total transaction of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General 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.