Wall Street Zen Upgrades Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) to Buy

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

CASY has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore set a $665.00 price objective on Casey’s General Stores and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $688.00 price objective on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $610.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $621.00.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Casey’s General Stores stock opened at $685.59 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $621.30 and its 200 day moving average is $568.80. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $372.08 and a 1 year high of $690.00.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.51 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.85 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 179,938.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,659,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,747,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657,687 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased 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 valued at $503,635,000 after purchasing an additional 502,104 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter valued at $265,163,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 40.9% during the fourth 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. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Casey’s General Stores

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.