Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Lowers Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lowered its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 70.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,959 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,956 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 66.9% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 208,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,375,000 after purchasing an additional 34,032 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 88.9% during the 1st quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Barden Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth about $1,031,000. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth about $595,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CASY shares. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Northcoast Research upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $375.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.22.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

Shares of Casey’s General Stores stock traded up $2.31 on Monday, hitting $378.96. 164,075 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 290,804. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $356.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.47. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $238.44 and a 1-year high of $389.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 3.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is currently 12.81%.

Casey’s General Stores Company Profile

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.