Bath Savings Trust Co Boosts Stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Bath Savings Trust Co raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,678 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $3,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CASY. Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 17,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,012,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 4th quarter worth $226,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 758,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,090,000 after acquiring an additional 119,350 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 1.2 %

CASY traded down $4.88 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $391.88. 80,996 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 173,220. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $410.07 and a 200 day moving average of $388.32. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $268.07 and a 12-month high of $439.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.31 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total transaction of $192,208.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,247 shares in the company, valued at $959,761.11. The trade was a 16.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mike Spanos acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $396.76 per share, with a total value of $198,380.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,228,765.72. This trade represents a 19.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.