Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Short Interest Up 17.9% in October

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 887,600 shares, a growth of 17.9% from the October 15th total of 752,900 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 229,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CASY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Gordon Haskett started coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $408.25.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CASY traded down $4.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $401.40. 189,526 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 268,720. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $266.56 and a 1 year high of $420.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $386.44 and a 200 day moving average of $369.16.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.54 by $0.29. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.56%.

Insider Transactions at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $975,810.92. This trade represents a 11.47 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The trade was a 15.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 655,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,335,000 after acquiring an additional 8,428 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,450,000 after purchasing an additional 11,802 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,245,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 4,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 79.5% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 21,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 9,394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

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.