First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Casey's General Stores, Inc. $CASY

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 33.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,558 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,699 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.13% of Casey's General Stores worth $33,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey's General Stores during the first quarter worth about $1,563,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Casey's General Stores in the 1st quarter valued at about $986,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 143,031 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey's General Stores in the 1st quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Casey's General Stores by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 518 shares of the company's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $800.00, for a total transaction of $1,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,334,400. This trade represents a 23.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Allison M. Wing sold 530 shares of Casey's General Stores stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $837.58, for a total transaction of $443,917.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,547,918.36. This trade represents a 14.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,243 shares of company stock valued at $24,421,877. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CASY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Northcoast Research raised Casey's General Stores from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $950.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Casey's General Stores from $695.00 to $795.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Casey's General Stores from $950.00 to $970.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Casey's General Stores from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $950.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $940.00.

Casey's General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $856.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $490.00 and a 52-week high of $927.85. The business's 50-day moving average price is $821.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $747.62. The firm has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.62.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 9th. The company reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $1.06. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Casey's General Stores had a return on equity of 18.73% and a net margin of 4.07%.The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 21.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey's General Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, August 1st will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This is an increase from Casey's General Stores's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Casey's General Stores's dividend payout ratio is presently 11.90%.

Casey's General Stores Profile

Casey's General Stores, Inc NASDAQ: CASY is a U.S.-based convenience store chain that operates retail fuel stations and food-focused convenience outlets. Founded in 1959 in Boone, Iowa, the company has grown from a single neighborhood store into a regional operator known for combining traditional convenience retailing—fuel, packaged goods and tobacco—with a larger emphasis on fresh and prepared foods.

The company's stores typically offer gasoline and diesel alongside a range of grocery essentials, grab-and-go items and made-to-order foodservice.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CASY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.