Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Takes $23.29 Million Position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 62,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,294,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CASY. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 80.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 227.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 6.8% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,293,000 after purchasing an additional 889 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 157.4% during the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,306,000 after buying an additional 2,093 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ CASY opened at $425.27 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $405.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $382.11. The stock has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 52 week low of $266.58 and a 52 week high of $439.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $975,810.92. The trade was a 11.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $959,761.11. This trade represents a 16.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CASY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Gordon Haskett began coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.45.

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.