Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 35,055 Shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 244,875 shares of the company's stock after selling 35,055 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.66% of Casey's General Stores worth $92,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Casey's General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores by 941.7% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Casey's General Stores by 22.5% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Casey's General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Casey's General Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at $72,000. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CASY. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $435.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Casey's General Stores from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research report on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $424.00.

Casey's General Stores Stock Down 1.5 %

CASY stock opened at $403.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $407.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $383.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.88. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $268.07 and a fifty-two week high of $439.68.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Casey's General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.24 earnings per share. Casey's General Stores's revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey's General Stores Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Casey's General Stores news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total value of $192,208.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $959,761.11. The trade was a 16.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.