Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Underweight

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $337.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $300.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CASY. Northcoast Research upgraded Casey’s General Stores from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $410.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $305.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Casey’s General Stores in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Casey’s General Stores from $393.00 to $403.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Casey’s General Stores has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $404.90.

Casey’s General Stores Stock Performance

Shares of CASY opened at $368.00 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $374.29 and a 200-day moving average of $348.04. The company has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.84. Casey’s General Stores has a 1 year low of $260.13 and a 1 year high of $401.07.

Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The company reported $4.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.54 by $0.29. Casey’s General Stores had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.52 EPS. Casey’s General Stores’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Casey’s General Stores will post 14.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Casey’s General Stores Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Casey’s General Stores’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total transaction of $5,056,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Darren M. Rebelez sold 13,500 shares of Casey’s General Stores stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.54, for a total value of $5,056,290.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,655,284.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas P. Brennan, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.24, for a total value of $1,140,720.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,438,890.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casey’s General Stores

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the first quarter worth $30,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Casey’s General Stores during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casey’s General Stores during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 85.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.