Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

CASY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Gordon Haskett assumed coverage on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $300.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $410.33.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Down 0.5 %

CASY stock opened at $425.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.98 and a beta of 0.80. Casey’s General Stores has a 12 month low of $266.58 and a 12 month high of $439.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $403.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $380.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 9th. The company reported $4.85 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mike Spanos purchased 267 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $376.18 per share, with a total value of $100,440.06. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,810.92. The trade was a 11.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CASY. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter worth $32,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Casey’s General Stores by 941.7% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Casey’s General Stores by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter valued at about $72,000. 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, 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.