Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Short Interest Update

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 628,700 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the August 31st total of 595,100 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 253,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Casey’s General Stores

In related news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total value of $1,140,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total transaction of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,655,284.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CASY. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 768,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,592,000 after buying an additional 10,841 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 468,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,822,000 after buying an additional 14,750 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 20.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 458,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,771,000 after buying an additional 77,515 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter valued at about $112,081,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 113.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,936,000 after buying an additional 154,803 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $377.47 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $373.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $351.71. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $260.13 and a 1 year high of $401.07. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.11 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $407.64.

Casey’s General Stores Company Profile

Casey's General Stores, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates convenience stores under the Casey's and Casey's General Store names. Its stores offer pizza, donuts, breakfast items, and sandwiches; and tobacco and nicotine products. The company's stores provide soft drinks, energy, water, sports drinks, juices, coffee, and tea and dairy products; beer, wine, and spirits; snacks, candy, packaged bakery, and other food items; ice, ice cream, meals, and appetizers; health and beauty aids, automotive products, electronic accessories, housewares, and pet supplies; and ATM, lotto/lottery, and prepaid cards.