Longview Partners Guernsey LTD Decreases Stock Holdings in Dollar General Corporation $DG

Key Points

• Longview Partners Guernsey LTD reduced its stake in Dollar General Corporation by 5.8%, holding approximately 3.25 million shares now valued at $286 million, making it the fund's 25th largest investment.
• Despite the decrease in Longview's position, other institutional investors, like Pacer Advisors Inc., have significantly increased their holdings in Dollar General, raising theirs by over 5,400% within the same time frame.
• Dollar General reported quarterly earnings of $1.78 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue of $10.44 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 5.3%.

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD reduced its position in shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,254,829 shares of the company's stock after selling 200,452 shares during the quarter. Dollar General accounts for approximately 2.3% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned about 1.48% of Dollar General worth $286,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 1st quarter valued at about $280,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 27,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 74.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $8,137,000 after purchasing an additional 16,453 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 48.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Dollar General from $100.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Dollar General from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Guggenheim boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Dollar General from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded Dollar General from a "reduce" rating to an "accumulate" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $108.80.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

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

Dollar General Price Performance

NYSE DG traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $111.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,419,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,872,020. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $112.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Dollar General Corporation has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $117.95. The company has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.31.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.30. Dollar General had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Dollar General has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.800-6.300 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.