Van ECK Associates Corp Buys Shares of 9,547 Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,623,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 7.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,585,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,458,000 after purchasing an additional 113,437 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 732,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,922,000 after purchasing an additional 38,722 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 559,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,924,000 after purchasing an additional 18,528 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 142.8% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 242,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,959,000 after purchasing an additional 142,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 2.9% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 217,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,026,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.63.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of CASY stock opened at $329.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $311.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.43. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.50 and a 12-month high of $330.80. The firm has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.82.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 3.23%. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 12.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.67%.

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.