Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $380.11.

CASY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Northcoast Research cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $375.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

Casey’s General Stores Price Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $382.87 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores has a 52 week low of $227.96 and a 52 week high of $389.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $339.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $308.68.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.64. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.38% and a return on equity of 17.25%. The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. Casey’s General Stores’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This is a positive change from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.81%.

About Casey’s General Stores

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.