Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Shares Climb 3.6% – Still a Buy?

Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) shot up 3.6% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $603.43 and last traded at $606.0240. 326,929 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 518,690 shares. The stock had previously closed at $584.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CASY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $950.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $775.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Casey’s General Stores to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $1,032.00 to $995.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $933.00 price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.69.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Down 0.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $773.91 and a 200 day moving average of $780.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $7.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.78 by $0.59. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 19.68% and a net margin of 4.14%.The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.77 earnings per share. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Casey’s General Stores, Inc. will post 21.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Sunday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casey’s General Stores

In other Casey’s General Stores news, insider Katrina S. Lindsey sold 2,000 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $800.00, for a total value of $1,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,334,400. The trade was a 23.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Allison M. Wing sold 530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $837.58, for a total transaction of $443,917.40. Following the sale, the director owned 3,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,547,918.36. The trade was a 14.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,243 shares of company stock worth $24,421,877. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,759,895,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $265,163,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth $281,872,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter worth $281,011,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter worth $246,982,000. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Casey’s General Stores Company Profile

Casey’s General Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: CASY) is a U.S.-based convenience store chain that operates retail fuel stations and food-focused convenience outlets. Founded in 1959 in Boone, Iowa, the company has grown from a single neighborhood store into a regional operator known for combining traditional convenience retailing—fuel, packaged goods and tobacco—with a larger emphasis on fresh and prepared foods.

The company’s stores typically offer gasoline and diesel alongside a range of grocery essentials, grab-and-go items and made-to-order foodservice.