Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Makes New $3.30 Million Investment in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. $CASY

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,303,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 252.4% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $1,032.00 to $995.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Casey’s General Stores to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $910.00 to $960.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Casey’s General Stores from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $950.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $942.87.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $755.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $27.96 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $831.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $781.32. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $490.00 and a 12-month high of $927.85.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 9th. The company reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $1.06. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 4.07% and a return on equity of 18.73%. The firm had revenue of $4.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 21.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Saturday, August 1st were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Stephen P. Bramlage, Jr. sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $838.16, for a total transaction of $4,777,512.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,874,074.32. This represents a 16.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chad Michael Frazell sold 3,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $787.49, for a total value of $2,372,707.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 9,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,735,514.27. The trade was a 23.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,243 shares of company stock worth $24,421,877 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

About Casey’s General Stores

Casey’s General Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: CASY) is a U.S.-based convenience store chain that operates retail fuel stations and food-focused convenience outlets. Founded in 1959 in Boone, Iowa, the company has grown from a single neighborhood store into a regional operator known for combining traditional convenience retailing—fuel, packaged goods and tobacco—with a larger emphasis on fresh and prepared foods.

The company’s stores typically offer gasoline and diesel alongside a range of grocery essentials, grab-and-go items and made-to-order foodservice.