West Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 228.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 725 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 941.7% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 22.5% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $72,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 3rd quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 3rd quarter valued at $118,000. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CASY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.00.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $391.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $409.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $388.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.88. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.07 and a 52-week high of $439.68.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.57% and a return on equity of 17.17%. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 13.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total value of $192,208.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $959,761.11. This trade represents a 16.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mike Spanos bought 500 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $396.76 per share, for a total transaction of $198,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,097 shares in the company, valued at $1,228,765.72. This represents a 19.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Casey’s General Stores 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.