Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Invests $341,000 in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 1st quarter valued at about $280,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 4.2% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Dollar General by 74.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General by 18.1% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of Dollar General by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Dollar General from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Cfra Research raised Dollar General to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Dollar General from a “reduce” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Dollar General from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Dollar General from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.40.

Dollar General Price Performance

Dollar General stock opened at $108.54 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.31. Dollar General Corporation has a 12-month low of $66.43 and a 12-month high of $126.98.

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.32. Dollar General had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The company had revenue of $10.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dollar General Corporation will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Dollar General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 45.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen A. Reardon sold 6,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.56, for a total transaction of $718,223.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 41,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,646,027.76. The trade was a 13.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Emily C. Taylor sold 1,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $222,497.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,261,619. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.