Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $34.83 Million Stock Position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its position in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 87,906 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,745 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $34,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,799,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,505,319,000 after acquiring an additional 44,295 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,046,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,305,000 after purchasing an additional 38,226 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 758,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,090,000 after purchasing an additional 119,350 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 655,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,335,000 after purchasing an additional 8,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter worth $236,500,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CASY. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $460.00 to $450.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Gordon Haskett raised Casey’s General Stores from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $438.00 price target on Casey’s General Stores and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, Director Mike Spanos acquired 256 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $390.54 per share, for a total transaction of $99,978.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,310,652.24. This represents a 8.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Up 1.1 %

CASY opened at $430.69 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a twelve month low of $306.45 and a twelve month high of $445.17. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $412.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $402.34. The stock has a market cap of $15.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.94%.

Casey’s General Stores Profile

Casey’s General Stores, Inc engages in the provision of management and operation of convenience stores and gasoline stations. It provides self-service gasoline, a wide selection of grocery items, and an array of freshly prepared food items. The firm offers food, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty aids, automotive products, and other non-food items.