Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Short Interest Up 29.3% in October

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 522,600 shares, an increase of 29.3% from the October 15th total of 404,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 256,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CLH shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $300.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $223.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Clean Harbors in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Clean Harbors from $252.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $274.00 to $268.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Clean Harbors presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.33.

Clean Harbors Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of CLH stock opened at $247.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.21 and a beta of 1.20. Clean Harbors has a fifty-two week low of $158.42 and a fifty-two week high of $267.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($0.03). Clean Harbors had a net margin of 7.19% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Clean Harbors will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Robert Speights sold 610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.14, for a total value of $146,485.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,403,882.40. This represents a 1.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lauren States sold 309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.09, for a total value of $75,423.81. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,284,963.22. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,227 shares of company stock worth $2,759,617 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLH. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Clean Harbors in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 214 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Clean Harbors during the second quarter worth about $56,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Clean Harbors during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its position in shares of Clean Harbors by 161.6% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 259 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Clean Harbors

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.