Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at William Blair

William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $117.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $108.20.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

CWST opened at $99.25 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.79. Casella Waste Systems has a 52-week low of $72.97 and a 52-week high of $109.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 320.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $377.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.87 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 1.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.0% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 16,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 38.1% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 613 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a vertically integrated solid waste services company in the United States. It offers resource management services primarily in the areas of solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers.