Benchmark Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY)

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $410.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.65% from the company’s previous close.

CASY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $399.20.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $354.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores has a 12-month low of $238.44 and a 12-month high of $401.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $373.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.30.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $382,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $704,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Casey’s General Stores by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,798,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter worth $3,654,000. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the second quarter worth $300,000. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.