Dollar General Corporation $DG Shares Acquired by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

Key Points

• ZWJ Investment Counsel increased its Dollar General stake by 7.9% in the third quarter, adding 12,208 shares for a total of 166,892 shares valued at approximately $19.96 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: 12 analysts rate the stock a Buy, 16 recommend Hold, and one rates it Sell. The consensus target price is $137.96, compared with the reported share price of $130.06.
• Dollar General exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.48 in EPS and $11.29 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 5.2% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, yielding about 1.8% annually.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 7.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,892 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 12,208 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.08% of Dollar General worth $19,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Dollar General by 6.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,868,239 shares of the company's stock worth $340,546,000 after buying an additional 167,546 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Dollar General by 2.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,800,145 shares of the company's stock worth $332,443,000 after acquiring an additional 75,323 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Dollar General by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,723,506 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,362,000 after acquiring an additional 20,366 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Dollar General by 2,208.2% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,554,918 shares of the company's stock valued at $184,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 2nd quarter valued at about $162,412,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on DG. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Dollar General in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. HSBC upgraded Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $143.00 price target on shares of Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on Dollar General from $116.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on Dollar General from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.96.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $130.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $124.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.95. Dollar General Corporation has a 12-month low of $95.11 and a 12-month high of $158.23. The stock has a market cap of $28.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.23.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The company reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.47. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $11.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.86 EPS. Dollar General's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Dollar General has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.800-8.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Dollar General Corporation will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. Dollar General's payout ratio is presently 30.69%.

Dollar General Profile

Dollar General Corporation NYSE: DG operates a chain of discount retail stores focused on providing everyday goods at affordable prices. Its merchandise includes consumable products such as food, beverages, cleaning supplies, paper products, and personal-care items, along with seasonal goods, home products, basic apparel, and select health and beauty products. Many stores also offer tobacco products, prepaid wireless services, and other convenience-oriented items.

The company primarily serves rural and suburban communities in the United States through a network of small-format stores located across most U.S.

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