Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CASY. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $322.00 to $361.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $337.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Casey’s General Stores from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casey’s General Stores has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $380.11.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

NASDAQ CASY opened at $372.02 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $326.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $301.65. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $216.95 and a 1 year high of $389.43.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 11th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This is an increase from Casey’s General Stores’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CASY. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter worth $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter worth $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

About Casey’s General Stores

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.