Synovus Financial Corp Purchases 547 Shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. $CASY

Key Points

• Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Casey's General Stores by 3.2% in Q1, owning 17,410 shares valued at $7.56 million after purchasing 547 additional shares.
• Casey's General Stores reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.63, exceeding estimates by $0.69 and marking a 10.9% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.57 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.5%, up from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,410 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 547 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Casey's General Stores were worth $7,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores by 190.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,244,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $540,081,000 after buying an additional 816,110 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Casey's General Stores by 42.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,036,426 shares of the company's stock worth $449,851,000 after purchasing an additional 306,628 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Casey's General Stores by 8.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 649,815 shares of the company's stock worth $282,045,000 after purchasing an additional 52,939 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 542,855 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 175,372 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Casey's General Stores Price Performance

CASY stock opened at $503.26 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $515.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $463.66. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a 52-week low of $350.52 and a 52-week high of $531.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The company reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.69. Casey's General Stores had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 13.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey's General Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Casey's General Stores's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Casey's General Stores's payout ratio is 15.57%.

Insider Activity at Casey's General Stores

In related news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.83, for a total transaction of $10,156,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 89,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,623,447.20. This trade represents a 18.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $506.07, for a total transaction of $1,012,140.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 4,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,346,140.52. This trade represents a 30.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,646 shares of company stock valued at $22,136,614 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CASY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Casey's General Stores from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores from $468.00 to $542.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Casey's General Stores from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $467.33.

About Casey's General Stores

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.

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