LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Raises Holdings in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 90,536 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the period. Dollar General accounts for 2.1% of LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $15,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DG. First Manhattan Co. lifted its position in shares of Dollar General by 447.4% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DG. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Dollar General from $185.00 to $146.00 in a report on Friday, September 1st. Piper Jaffray Companies cut Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Dollar General from $180.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Dollar General from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $210.00 to $132.00 in a report on Thursday, August 31st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Dollar General in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dollar General presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.41.

Dollar General Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of DG traded down $1.53 on Friday, reaching $116.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,403,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,669,041. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.03. Dollar General Co. has a 12-month low of $115.93 and a 12-month high of $261.59.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 31st. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $9.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.93 billion. Dollar General had a net margin of 5.59% and a return on equity of 36.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Dollar General Co. will post 7.82 EPS for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. Dollar General’s payout ratio is 24.18%.

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.