Short Interest in Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Rises By 5.8%

Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 932,400 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the November 15th total of 881,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 222,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CASY shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Casey's General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $435.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Casey's General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Casey's General Stores from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $419.45.

Casey's General Stores Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Casey's General Stores stock traded down $0.76 on Monday, hitting $424.51. The company had a trading volume of 264,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 266,343. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 0.80. Casey's General Stores has a twelve month low of $268.07 and a twelve month high of $439.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $405.04 and a 200-day moving average of $382.11. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.56. The business 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%. The firm's revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.24 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Casey's General Stores will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey's General Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Casey's General Stores's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.94%.

Insider Activity at Casey's General Stores

In related news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of Casey's General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at $975,810.92. The trade was a 11.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total value of $192,208.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $959,761.11. This trade represents a 16.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey's General Stores

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Casey's General Stores by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,072 shares of the company's stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Casey's General Stores by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 3.1% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Casey's General Stores by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Casey's General Stores by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 12,769 shares of the company's stock worth $4,872,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company's stock.

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.