Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Invests $493,000 in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,231,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,913,036,000 after acquiring an additional 160,853 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 12,770,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,122,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,206 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,361,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,425,000 after acquiring an additional 118,204 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,380,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $256,310,000 after acquiring an additional 821,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of Dollar General by 323.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Dollar General from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Dollar General from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Dollar General from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer raised Dollar General from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.40.

Dollar General Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:DG traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,603,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,554,480. The company has a market capitalization of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.31. Dollar General Corporation has a one year low of $66.43 and a one year high of $126.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $109.58 and a 200 day moving average of $91.31.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $10.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 17.93%. Dollar General's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen A. Reardon sold 6,438 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.56, for a total value of $718,223.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 41,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,646,027.76. The trade was a 13.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 1,969 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $222,497.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,563 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,261,619. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.56% 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.