RIA Advisory Group LLC Takes $242,000 Position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 15.2% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 28,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,736,000 after buying an additional 3,776 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter worth $1,021,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 3rd quarter worth $5,489,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter valued at about $2,183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In related news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares in the company, valued at $3,438,890.56. The trade was a 24.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mike Spanos bought 267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $376.18 per share, with a total value of $100,440.06. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at $975,810.92. This represents a 11.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CASY. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Gordon Haskett began coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $408.25.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

CASY stock traded down $4.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $401.40. The company had a trading volume of 189,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,720. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $386.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $369.16. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $266.56 and a fifty-two week high of $420.27. 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 (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 3.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

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

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.