Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $32.41 Million Stock Holdings in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) by 1,044.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 117,974 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Casey’s General Stores were worth $32,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CASY. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 283.7% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 165 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of CASY traded down $2.08 on Thursday, reaching $316.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 408,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 282,378. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.50 and a 12-month high of $324.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $309.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $288.77.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 12.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CASY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $312.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.63.

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.