Copeland Capital Management LLC Sells 24,039 Shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Copeland Capital Management LLC cut its position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 249,404 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,039 shares during the quarter. Casey’s General Stores makes up 1.6% of Copeland Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Copeland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $93,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CASY. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CASY. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $393.00 to $403.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $408.09.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $392.12 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $374.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $357.81. The company has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $260.13 and a 1-year high of $401.07. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business posted $4.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

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 $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.89%.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares in the company, valued at $3,438,890.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 $27,655,284.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 shares were 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 directly owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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.