Raymond James & Associates Sells 3,219 Shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its holdings in Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,007 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,219 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.54% of Casey's General Stores worth $54,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the company's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Casey's General Stores by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 12,582 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,457,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Casey's General Stores by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 23,143 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,358,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Casey's General Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in Casey's General Stores by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 1,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mike Spanos bought 725 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $275.43 per share, with a total value of $199,686.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,791 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $493,295.13. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Casey's General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CASY traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $318.45. 245,537 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 274,474. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $293.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.51. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.50 and a fifty-two week high of $324.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.83.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. Casey's General Stores had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 3.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 12.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey's General Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Casey's General Stores's dividend payout ratio is 13.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CASY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Casey's General Stores from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Casey's General Stores from $291.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Casey's General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Casey's General Stores from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $309.00.

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.