Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 13,283 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 36.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,475 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,283 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $1,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,528,450 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Dollar General by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,958,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,208,000 after purchasing an additional 759,869 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $399,433,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,243,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,899,000 after buying an additional 182,300 shares during the period. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 8,426.1% during the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 4,041,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,994,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Dollar General from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Bernstein Bank reduced their price target on Dollar General from $98.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Dollar General from $97.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Dollar General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.09.

Dollar General Trading Up 6.9 %

Shares of Dollar General stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.70. Dollar General Co. has a 1 year low of $66.43 and a 1 year high of $168.07. The company has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.44.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.17. Dollar General had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 18.85%. The company had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. Dollar General’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. 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, April 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael M. Calbert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $451,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 120,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,056,636.94. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.