Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $761.3636.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CASY shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $745.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $662.00 to $713.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Casey’s General Stores stock opened at $761.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $433.63 and a 1 year high of $901.00. The company has a market cap of $28.15 billion, a PE ratio of 43.72, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $787.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $674.78.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The company reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.55. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.83% and a return on equity of 17.56%. The company had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 18.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, Director Mike Spanos acquired 300 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $665.43 per share, with a total value of $199,629.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 4,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,993,769.57. The trade was a 7.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 200 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.04, for a total transaction of $136,608.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,039 shares in the company, valued at $2,758,798.56. The trade was a 4.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CASY. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 760,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,416,000 after buying an additional 52,250 shares during the period. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,338,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 4.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 48,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,336,000 after buying an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 191,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,065,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

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.