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

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $312.63.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ CASY opened at $327.90 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $312.20 and a 200 day moving average of $290.69. The company has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $212.50 and a 1 year high of $332.95.

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

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,585,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,458,000 after purchasing an additional 113,437 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Casey’s General Stores by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 732,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,922,000 after buying an additional 38,722 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 3.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 559,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,924,000 after purchasing an additional 18,528 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth $115,799,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter valued at about $112,081,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.