Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $868,000 Holdings in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 134.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,871 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,653 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Dollar General were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth about $399,433,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% in the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company's stock worth $306,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,070 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $140,421,000. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 323.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,354,135 shares of the company's stock worth $178,491,000 after buying an additional 1,797,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767,336 shares of the company's stock worth $892,199,000 after buying an additional 1,528,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $120.00 price objective on Dollar General in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Dollar General from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Melius upgraded Dollar General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Dollar General from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $80.00 price target (down previously from $90.00) on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.08.

Dollar General Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of DG stock traded down $0.39 on Wednesday, hitting $112.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,116,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,115,080. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.26. Dollar General Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $66.43 and a fifty-two week high of $135.46. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $100.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.54.

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

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 8th. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio is 45.04%.

Insider Transactions at Dollar General

In other Dollar General news, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 809 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.72, for a total value of $76,628.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,532 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,596,951.04. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen A. Reardon sold 6,438 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,216 shares of company stock worth $1,017,349. 0.56% of the stock is 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.