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

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $403.00 to $428.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Casey’s General Stores traded as high as $437.27 and last traded at $431.65, with a volume of 82870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $416.86.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Gordon Haskett assumed coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $410.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, Director Mike Spanos bought 267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $376.18 per share, with a total value of $100,440.06. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,810.92. This trade represents a 11.47 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,183,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 80.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter worth about $658,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $401.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $380.19. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $16.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34 and a beta of 0.80.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.24 EPS. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 14.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is 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.