Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Earns “Market Perform” Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reissued their market perform rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a $450.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $400.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Melius Research started coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $435.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Gordon Haskett began coverage on Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $424.00.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $403.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores has a 1-year low of $268.07 and a 1-year high of $439.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $407.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $383.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 3.57%. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.94%.

Insider Activity at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total transaction of $192,208.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,247 shares in the company, valued at $959,761.11. This represents a 16.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $959,880,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 3,846.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 172,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,750,000 after acquiring an additional 176,920 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 49.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 524,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,861,000 after purchasing an additional 174,586 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1,819.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 130,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,959,000 after purchasing an additional 123,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 281.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 164,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,863,000 after purchasing an additional 121,488 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.