Prices of publicly traded stocks of Iowa companies ended the month of January mostly down from the beginning of the year, reflecting an overall decline in U.S. stock prices during the month. Of the 34 companies tracked by the Business Record that are based in Iowa or have operations in the state, just three had net increases in their stock prices in January: Casey’s General Stores Inc., Heartland Financial USA Inc. and Rockwell Collins Inc.

Overall, our Iowa Index – an unweighted average price of all 21 Iowa-based public companies – was down $1.95, or 5.39 percent from the beginning of the year.

Ankeny-based Casey’s, whose stock price began the year at $90.02 per share, gained $1.28 per share for the month for a 1.42 percent increase in share price, the highest percentage gain of any Iowa stock. Also finishing the month strong was Heartland Financial; the Dubuque-based financial services company’s stock price was up 1.21 percent to $27.62 per share. Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins shares rose by 0.94 percent in January to finish at $85.52 for the month.

The companies with the greatest percentage declines in stock prices included Davenport-based media company Lee Enterprises Inc., down 76 cents for the month, or 20.5 percent of its Jan. 30 closing share price of $2.95. Dice Holdings Inc. shares were down $1.75 for January, ending the month down nearly 17.5 percent at $8.27 per share. And Bank of America Corp. stock was down by $2.84 per share for the month, or 15.8 percent.

By comparison, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended the month of January at just under 1,995, down about 64 points or 3.1 percent from the beginning of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 3.7 percent for the month.