Axa S.A. Purchases 5,151 Shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Axa S.A. boosted its position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 14.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,677 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,151 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $15,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CASY. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter worth $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 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 commented on CASY shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Northcoast Research upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $407.64.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

Shares of Casey’s General Stores stock opened at $373.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.13 and a 12 month high of $401.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $373.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $349.88.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is presently 14.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total transaction of $1,140,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,438,890.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total transaction of $1,140,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,438,890.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total transaction of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.