Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 46.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,028 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,612 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at $5,156,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 107,306 shares of the company's stock worth $8,137,000 after buying an additional 16,453 shares in the last quarter. Alethea Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $384,000. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 92.7% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 46,422 shares of the company's stock worth $3,520,000 after buying an additional 22,327 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 48,532 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,596,951.04. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Melius Research upgraded shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $95.16.

Dollar General Stock Performance

NYSE DG traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $93.55. 2,562,577 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,992,801. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.85. The firm has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.27. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $147.87.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during 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 previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.18%.

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.