MQS Management LLC Reduces Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

MQS Management LLC reduced its position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 609 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CASY. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 941.7% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CASY. Melius Research began coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $435.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Gordon Haskett started coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $408.25.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $401.40 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $386.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $369.16. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $266.56 and a 1-year high of $420.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21 and a beta of 0.79.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.24 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is 14.56%.

Insider Activity at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at $27,655,284.52. This represents a 15.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total value 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. This represents a 24.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.