Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CASY. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $688.00 price target on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $621.00.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Casey’s General Stores stock opened at $675.74 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $616.07 and its 200 day moving average is $566.10. Casey’s General Stores has a one year low of $372.08 and a one year high of $685.54. The firm has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.56, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.68. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $5.53 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $4.51 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 3.58%.The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, February 1st were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is 14.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In related news, Director Moats Maria Castanon bought 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $554.66 per share, with a total value of $166,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,391.98. This represents a 59.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position 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 worth $1,469,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657,687 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $590,671,000 after buying an additional 310,470 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 129.1% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 890,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $503,635,000 after acquiring an additional 502,104 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 35.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 791,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,403,000 after acquiring an additional 206,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 760,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,416,000 after acquiring an additional 52,250 shares during the period. 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.