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

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CASY. Northcoast Research downgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $530.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.50.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CASY opened at $667.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.68. Casey’s General Stores has a 1-year low of $372.08 and a 1-year high of $678.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $608.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $562.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $5.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.92 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $4.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.51 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.85 EPS. Research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Moats Maria Castanon purchased 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $554.66 per share, for a total transaction of $166,398.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 803 shares in the company, valued at $445,391.98. This trade represents a 59.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 179,938.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,659,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657,687 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 890,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $503,635,000 after purchasing an additional 502,104 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter worth approximately $265,163,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 310,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 175.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Company Profile

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.