Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $345.00 to $355.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Casey’s General Stores traded as high as $321.53 and last traded at $321.42, with a volume of 8811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $319.38.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CASY. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $291.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $312.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $309.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $275.43 per share, for a total transaction of $199,686.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $493,295.13. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CASY. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Casey’s General Stores by 430.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,141,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,090,000 after purchasing an additional 926,324 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter worth approximately $115,799,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Casey’s General Stores by 1,277.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 454,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,067,000 after acquiring an additional 421,302 shares in the last quarter. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at approximately $56,800,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 152.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 384,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,153,000 after acquiring an additional 232,277 shares in the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casey’s General Stores Trading Up 0.7 %

The company has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $293.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $281.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.13. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 12.88 EPS for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Casey’s General Stores’s payout ratio is 13.67%.

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.