Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Monday, August 5th. William Blair initiated coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $108.01 on Thursday. Casella Waste Systems has a 52-week low of $79.16 and a 52-week high of $111.01. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 900.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.66.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.46% and a return on equity of 3.04%. The business had revenue of $411.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Casella Waste Systems news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total value of $184,781.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,085 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,088.85. The trade was a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Casella Waste Systems during the first quarter valued at $263,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 0.3% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,123,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the 1st quarter worth $316,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.