Insider Buying: Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Director Acquires 500 Shares of Stock

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Director Mike Spanos acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $396.76 per share, for a total transaction of $198,380.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,228,765.72. This trade represents a 19.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CASY traded up $2.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $405.75. 137,606 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 266,362. The firm has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.28 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $268.07 and a fifty-two week high of $439.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $408.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $386.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CASY. Melius Research assumed coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.00.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Soros Capital Management LLC grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 1,825.6% in the third quarter. Soros Capital Management LLC now owns 27,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,382,000 after purchasing an additional 26,197 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the third quarter valued at about $23,294,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,046,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,305,000 after acquiring an additional 38,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 111.7% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.