Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Invests $12.25 Million in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 32,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,251,000. Casey’s General Stores comprises approximately 3.3% of Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC owned 0.09% of Casey’s General Stores at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth approximately $794,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,976,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,183,000. Finally, Monument Capital Management increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 7,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268 shares in the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $408.09.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $392.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $374.63 and its 200 day moving average is $357.81. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.13 and a 52 week high of $401.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.84.

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

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is currently 14.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Casey’s General Stores news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at $27,655,284.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total value of $1,140,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.