Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Upgraded by Gordon Haskett to “Buy” Rating

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) was upgraded by equities researchers at Gordon Haskett from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $451.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $424.00.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CASY opened at $435.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $409.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $394.60. Casey’s General Stores has a fifty-two week low of $279.99 and a fifty-two week high of $439.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Casey’s General Stores will post 13.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Casey’s General Stores

In other news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $396.76 per share, with a total value of $198,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,228,765.72. The trade was a 19.25 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 450 shares of Casey’s General Stores 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 directly owns 2,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,761.11. This trade represents a 16.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Casey’s General Stores

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CASY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Casey’s General Stores by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,799,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,505,319,000 after acquiring an additional 44,295 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,046,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,305,000 after purchasing an additional 38,226 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 758,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,090,000 after buying an additional 119,350 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 678,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,952,000 after buying an additional 154,541 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 655,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,335,000 after buying an additional 8,428 shares during the period. 85.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Casey’s General Stores

Casey’s General Stores, Inc engages in the provision of management and operation of convenience stores and gasoline stations. It provides self-service gasoline, a wide selection of grocery items, and an array of freshly prepared food items. The firm offers food, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty aids, automotive products, and other non-food items.