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 rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $401.22.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Northcoast Research raised shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $375.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $322.00 to $361.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 4.9 %

CASY stock opened at $391.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $360.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.56. Casey’s General Stores has a 52 week low of $238.44 and a 52 week high of $401.07. The company has a market capitalization of $14.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.80.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This is a boost from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 85.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.