MML Investors Services LLC Has $1.57 Million Position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,176 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $1,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 22.5% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.1% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 991 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.3% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 0.3% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 12,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,872,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CASY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Gordon Haskett assumed coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total value of $192,208.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,247 shares in the company, valued at $959,761.11. The trade was a 16.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Casey’s General Stores stock opened at $421.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.64 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $406.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $383.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.88. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $268.07 and a 52 week high of $439.68.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is currently 13.94%.

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.