Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

CASY has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $700.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Evercore set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Northcoast Research lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $600.00 to $706.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $698.20.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $677.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.02 billion, a PE ratio of 38.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.65. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $397.80 and a 1 year high of $696.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $654.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.08 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 17.56%. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Casey’s General Stores news, Director Mike Spanos bought 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $665.43 per share, for a total transaction of $199,629.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 4,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,993,769.57. The trade was a 7.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Moats Maria Castanon acquired 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were acquired 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 owned 803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,391.98. This trade represents a 59.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 6.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 129.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,199,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 81,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is currently 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.