MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,419 Shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,171 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,419 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Dollar General were worth $4,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of DG. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in Dollar General by 453.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,238,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,903,000 after acquiring an additional 8,388,735 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA bought a new position in shares of Dollar General in the third quarter worth approximately $194,832,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Dollar General by 148.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,280,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,257,000 after buying an additional 765,206 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Dollar General by 319.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 925,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,324,000 after buying an additional 704,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Dollar General during the 2nd quarter valued at $55,986,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Daiwa America cut Dollar General from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup lowered Dollar General from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Warren F. Bryant purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $80.40 per share, for a total transaction of $40,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,298,812. This represents a 1.23 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Roderick J. West sold 2,510 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total value of $208,957.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $762,819.75. The trade was a 21.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Dollar General Price Performance

Shares of DG opened at $77.27 on Monday. Dollar General Co. has a twelve month low of $72.12 and a twelve month high of $168.07. The company has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.16 and a 200 day moving average of $105.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 3.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Co. will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.