Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Purchased by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 257,733 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,272 shares during the quarter. Dollar General comprises approximately 2.0% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Dollar General worth $35,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Dollar General by 18.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,711,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,297,067,000 after acquiring an additional 3,457,393 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,765,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,055,202,000 after purchasing an additional 994,813 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,744,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,168,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,412 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Dollar General by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,346,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,278,000 after purchasing an additional 62,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $564,881,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dollar General Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DG traded down $0.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $144.77. The stock had a trading volume of 507,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,351,978. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $31.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.42. Dollar General Co. has a one year low of $101.09 and a one year high of $222.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.86.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. Dollar General had a net margin of 4.29% and a return on equity of 26.13%. The firm had revenue of $9.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays upgraded Dollar General from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $124.00 to $154.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Dollar General from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Dollar General from $158.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Dollar General from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dollar General

In other news, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Dollar General news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total transaction of $958,617.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ralph Santana sold 3,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $468,561.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,778.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.