Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $408.25.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CASY shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Gordon Haskett started coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $427.88 on Monday. Casey’s General Stores has a fifty-two week low of $266.56 and a fifty-two week high of $428.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $390.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $373.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.14 and a beta of 0.79.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.54 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.56%.

Insider Activity at Casey’s General Stores

In related news, Director Mike Spanos bought 267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, with a total value of $100,440.06. Following the completion of 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 trade was a 15.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CASY. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 111.7% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,504,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 5.8% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 48,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,362,000 after buying an additional 2,679 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 15.2% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 28,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,736,000 after buying an additional 3,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Casey’s General Stores by 24.0% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Casey’s General Stores Company 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.