Casey's General Stores, Inc. $CASY Holdings Lifted by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Casey's General Stores by 28.8% in the first quarter, owning a total of 3,155 shares worth $1.37 million after acquiring an additional 705 shares.
• Institutional investors control approximately 85.63% of the company's stock, with significant increases in holdings reported by firms such as Wellington Management Group and JPMorgan Chase.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Casey's General Stores, with Goldman Sachs now targeting $450 and KeyCorp increasing its target to $575, while maintaining a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 28.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,155 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 705 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in Casey's General Stores were worth $1,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 190.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,244,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $540,081,000 after acquiring an additional 816,110 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,036,426 shares of the company's stock valued at $449,851,000 after acquiring an additional 306,628 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 649,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,045,000 after acquiring an additional 52,939 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 54,448.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 543,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $236,054,000 after acquiring an additional 542,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 51.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 515,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $223,792,000 after acquiring an additional 175,372 shares in the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Casey's General Stores

In other news, CFO Stephen P. Bramlage, Jr. sold 8,478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.21, for a total transaction of $4,317,082.38. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 26,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,623,404.34. This trade represents a 24.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.07, for a total value of $1,012,140.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,636 shares in the company, valued at $2,346,140.52. This trade represents a 30.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,646 shares of company stock valued at $21,634,454. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CASY shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Casey's General Stores from $540.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Casey's General Stores from $468.00 to $542.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Casey's General Stores from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Casey's General Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Casey's General Stores from $450.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $505.25.

Casey's General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of CASY traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $553.89. 315,102 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 359,081. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $362.42 and a twelve month high of $559.37. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $516.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $472.43.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 8th. The company reported $5.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.02 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $4.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. Casey's General Stores had a return on equity of 16.73% and a net margin of 3.54%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.83 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey's General Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Casey's General Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.63%.

Casey's General Stores Company Profile

Casey's General Stores, Inc engages in the provision of management and operation of convenience stores and gasoline stations. It provides self-service gasoline, a wide selection of grocery items, and an array of freshly prepared food items. The firm offers food, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty aids, automotive products, and other non-food items.