Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 25.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,997 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,739,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $173,035,000 after purchasing an additional 4,462 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.2% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,680,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $166,725,000 after purchasing an additional 51,516 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $144,704,000 after acquiring an additional 487,661 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,393,000 after acquiring an additional 109,288 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 5.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,387,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,058,000 after acquiring an additional 75,352 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ CWST opened at $105.20 on Monday. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.04 and a 52 week high of $114.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 876.67, a P/E/G ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CWST has been the subject of several analyst reports. William Blair assumed coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Raymond James increased their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

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.