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

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $615.50.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CASY shares. Wall Street Zen cut Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Northcoast Research lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $585.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of CASY opened at $667.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $608.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.11. Casey’s General Stores has a 52 week low of $372.08 and a 52 week high of $678.67.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $5.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.92 by $0.61. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $4.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 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, February 13th. Investors of record on Sunday, February 1st were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Moats Maria Castanon bought 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $554.66 per share, for a total transaction of $166,398.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,391.98. This represents a 59.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 179,938.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,659,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657,687 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 129.1% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 890,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $503,635,000 after buying an additional 502,104 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth $265,163,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,068,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,671,000 after buying an additional 310,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 175.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 471,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,622,000 after buying an additional 300,249 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Casey’s General Stores

Casey’s General Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: CASY) is a U.S.-based convenience store chain that operates retail fuel stations and food-focused convenience outlets. Founded in 1959 in Boone, Iowa, the company has grown from a single neighborhood store into a regional operator known for combining traditional convenience retailing—fuel, packaged goods and tobacco—with a larger emphasis on fresh and prepared foods.

The company’s stores typically offer gasoline and diesel alongside a range of grocery essentials, grab-and-go items and made-to-order foodservice.