Brokerages Set Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) PT at $424.00

Shares of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $424.00.

CASY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Casey’s General Stores from $403.00 to $428.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CASY opened at $403.16 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $268.07 and a 1 year high of $439.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $408.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $384.69. The company has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.80.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. On average, research analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.28 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is presently 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $427.13, for a total transaction of $192,208.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $959,761.11. This trade represents a 16.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the third quarter worth $959,880,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3,846.1% in the 2nd 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. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 524,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,861,000 after acquiring an additional 174,586 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 1,819.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 130,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,959,000 after acquiring an additional 123,502 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 121,488 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

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.