D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Cuts Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 135,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 51,377 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $51,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 7,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 2,219 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 195.8% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 214,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,058,000 after purchasing an additional 72,888 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 23,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,330,000 after buying an additional 2,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 22,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,255,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CASY opened at $373.31 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $260.13 and a one year high of $401.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $373.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $349.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

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

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 14.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $975,810.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total transaction of $1,140,720.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $975,810.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CASY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $435.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores presently has an average 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.