Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CASY. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $662.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $585.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $530.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.00.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of CASY stock opened at $681.48 on Friday. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $372.08 and a 1 year high of $684.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $613.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.33. The company has a market cap of $25.26 billion, a PE ratio of 41.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.68.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $5.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.92 by $0.61. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 3.58%.The firm had revenue of $4.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, February 1st were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, Director Moats Maria Castanon purchased 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $554.66 per share, for a total transaction of $166,398.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,391.98. This trade represents a 59.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. bought a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter worth $196,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $516,000. Van Diest Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth about $303,000. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Casey’s General Stores by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Casey’s General Stores by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 572,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,234,000 after purchasing an additional 64,154 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Casey’s General Stores Company Profile

Casey’s General Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: CASY) is a U.S.-based convenience store chain that operates retail fuel stations and food-focused convenience outlets. Founded in 1959 in Boone, Iowa, the company has grown from a single neighborhood store into a regional operator known for combining traditional convenience retailing—fuel, packaged goods and tobacco—with a larger emphasis on fresh and prepared foods.

The company’s stores typically offer gasoline and diesel alongside a range of grocery essentials, grab-and-go items and made-to-order foodservice.