Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Shares Gap Down to $106.73

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $106.73, but opened at $101.36. Casella Waste Systems shares last traded at $101.50, with a volume of 647,409 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CWST shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.20.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 326.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $104.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.40.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.06). Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 1.35%. The business had revenue of $377.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.87 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CWST. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 16,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 613 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring 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.