Bailard Inc. Makes New Investment in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,021,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter worth $40,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CASY. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $410.22.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 1.6 %

CASY stock traded up $6.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $375.43. The company had a trading volume of 224,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,258. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $375.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $337.26. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $238.44 and a 12 month high of $401.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.80.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 3.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This is an increase from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.