Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Trims Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 151,032 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,657 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $41,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $331,000. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. raised its position in Casey’s General Stores by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 30,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $373,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Casey’s General Stores by 561.7% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 273,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,050,000 after purchasing an additional 231,887 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CASY. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Northcoast Research cut Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $322.00 to $361.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.11.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 2.2 %

CASY opened at $368.41 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.95 and a 12 month high of $389.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $332.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.02.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.64. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 3.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.81%.

About Casey’s General Stores

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.