Evercore ISI Lowers Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Price Target to $345.00

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) had its price objective trimmed by Evercore ISI from $350.00 to $345.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on 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. StockNews.com lowered Casey’s General Stores from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Benchmark restated a buy rating and set a $312.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $312.63.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of CASY opened at $310.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $212.50 and a 1 year high of $324.40.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. Casey’s General Stores had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Casey’s General Stores will post 12.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 430.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,141,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,090,000 after buying an additional 926,324 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter valued at $115,799,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the first quarter valued at $112,081,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 152.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 384,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,153,000 after buying an additional 232,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Casey’s General Stores by 561.7% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 273,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,050,000 after buying an additional 231,887 shares during the last quarter. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.