Short Interest in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Increases By 6.3%

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 595,100 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the August 15th total of 559,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 292,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $393.00 to $403.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.20.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CASY traded down $2.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $373.02. The stock had a trading volume of 118,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,718. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Casey’s General Stores has a 52 week low of $260.13 and a 52 week high of $401.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $374.49 and a 200 day moving average of $346.63. The company has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.80.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CASY. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 105.3% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 17,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,689,000 after purchasing an additional 8,753 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth about $302,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 599 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TrinityPoint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.