Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $111.50.

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

Casella Waste Systems Stock Up 2.2 %

CWST opened at $109.88 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $102.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.23. Casella Waste Systems has a twelve month low of $79.16 and a twelve month high of $111.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 915.67, a PEG ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 0.99.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $411.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casella Waste Systems

In other news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,252,088.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.4% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.0% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is 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.