WD Rutherford LLC Boosts Stock Position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

WD Rutherford LLC raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 99.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,476 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,236 shares during the period. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $2,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,585,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,458,000 after buying an additional 113,437 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 559,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,924,000 after buying an additional 18,528 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,799,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth approximately $112,081,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 561.7% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 273,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,050,000 after buying an additional 231,887 shares in the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CASY shares. Northcoast Research downgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Benchmark upped their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.11.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

NASDAQ:CASY traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $381.56. 643,881 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 397,906. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $341.24 and its 200-day moving average is $309.43. The stock has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 1-year low of $234.88 and a 1-year high of $389.43.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.64. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 3.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This is a positive change from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend 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.