Short Interest in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Rises By 6.3%

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 595,100 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the August 15th total of 559,900 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 292,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.20.

Insider Activity

In other Casey’s General Stores news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total transaction of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total transaction of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,655,284.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter worth $32,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY traded down $5.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $375.31. 227,331 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 281,626. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $374.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores has a fifty-two week low of $260.13 and a fifty-two week high of $401.07.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 3.40%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.89%.

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.