Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Shares Purchased by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY - Free Report) by 74.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,595 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,078 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Casey's General Stores were worth $6,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Casey's General Stores by 1.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 991 shares of the company's stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Casey's General Stores by 3.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,078 shares of the company's stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Casey's General Stores by 0.3% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 12,769 shares of the company's stock worth $4,872,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CASY. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey's General Stores in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Casey's General Stores from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Gordon Haskett started coverage on Casey's General Stores in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Casey's General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Casey's General Stores from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $419.45.

Casey's General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CASY traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $425.27. The company had a trading volume of 187,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 266,349. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $266.58 and a 12 month high of $439.68. The stock has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $405.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $381.40.

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Casey's General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey's General Stores Dividend Announcement

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

Casey's General Stores 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.