Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,521 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,395 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Dollar General worth $27,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 21.6% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the first quarter valued at approximately $474,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 26.3% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 58,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,098,000 after acquiring an additional 12,262 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 156.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 418 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Dollar General by 17.7% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 71,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,947,000 after acquiring an additional 10,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Dollar General

In related news, EVP Carman R. Wenkoff sold 5,909 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.23, for a total value of $958,617.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,636,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Dollar General from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $120.00 to $158.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Dollar General from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Dollar General from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Dollar General from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Dollar General from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $152.96.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:DG traded down $2.83 on Monday, hitting $156.72. 2,637,692 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,417,279. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.15. Dollar General Co. has a 52 week low of $101.09 and a 52 week high of $222.99. The company has a market cap of $34.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.42.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 4.29% and a return on equity of 26.13%. Dollar General's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Dollar General Co. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. Dollar General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.22%.

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.