Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 14,492 Shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 40.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,895 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,492 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Dollar General were worth $4,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Dollar General by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 45,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,423,000 after acquiring an additional 19,077 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,021 shares of the company's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth $315,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 31,098 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,358,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dollar General during the fourth quarter worth about $370,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on DG shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Dollar General from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Dollar General from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Dollar General from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Dollar General from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $107.04.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

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

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DG traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $110.03. 2,744,096 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,133,061. Dollar General Corporation has a twelve month low of $66.43 and a twelve month high of $126.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.31.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. The business 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 was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Dollar General's payout ratio is 45.04%.

Dollar General Company 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.