Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) was downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $337.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $300.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 9.66% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Northcoast Research upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $342.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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 report on Monday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $404.90.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

CASY opened at $373.02 on Thursday. Casey’s General Stores has a 1-year low of $260.13 and a 1-year high of $401.07. The company has a market cap of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $374.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.52 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total value of $1,140,720.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,655,284.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total transaction of $1,140,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,438,890.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $115,799,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 1st quarter valued at about $112,081,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 561.7% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 273,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,050,000 after buying an additional 231,887 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3,846.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 172,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,750,000 after buying an additional 176,920 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 113.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 291,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,936,000 after buying an additional 154,803 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

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.