Short Interest in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Increases By 17.9%

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) saw a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 887,600 shares, a growth of 17.9% from the October 15th total of 752,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 229,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CASY has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Gordon Haskett assumed coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $408.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, Director Mike Spanos acquired 267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, with a total value of $100,440.06. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,810.92. The trade was a 11.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total transaction of $1,140,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. This trade represents a 24.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Casey’s General Stores by 1.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 22.5% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 3.1% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 991 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 3.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ CASY traded down $4.31 on Friday, reaching $401.40. 189,526 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 206,054. Casey’s General Stores has a fifty-two week low of $266.56 and a fifty-two week high of $420.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $386.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $369.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.52 earnings per share. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is presently 14.56%.

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.