Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Hits New 1-Year High at $344.15

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $344.15 and last traded at $343.16, with a volume of 59521 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $338.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.63.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $320.73 and its 200 day moving average is $296.29.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.13. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 3.23%. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is currently 13.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 5,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 3,295 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 255.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 6,680 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at about $246,000. Finally, Dynasty Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $609,000. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

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.