Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $451.00 to $454.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Casey’s General Stores traded as high as $415.00 and last traded at $413.93, with a volume of 12406 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $396.90.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CASY. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Northcoast Research raised shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $435.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $408.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mike Spanos acquired 267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at $975,810.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Mike Spanos bought 267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $376.18 per share, for a total transaction of $100,440.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,594 shares in the company, valued at $975,810.92. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,655,284.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter worth about $794,000. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,021,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,183,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 255.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,959,000 after buying an additional 6,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evexia Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 14,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,440,000 after buying an additional 4,369 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Up 3.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $379.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $364.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.79.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.01 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.56%.

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.