Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 266 Shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,694 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter valued at about $167,570,000. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $241,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 257.9% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,848,000 after purchasing an additional 4,846 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $247,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CASY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $410.22.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of CASY stock opened at $370.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a one year low of $238.44 and a one year high of $401.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $376.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.64. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 17.25%. The company had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.89%.

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.