Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Short Interest Up 28.0% in March

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 748,700 shares, an increase of 28.0% from the February 28th total of 585,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 447,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLH opened at $197.10 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $215.97 and a 200 day moving average of $235.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56 and a beta of 1.22. Clean Harbors has a 12 month low of $186.54 and a 12 month high of $267.11.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.19. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CLH. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $250.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Clean Harbors from $285.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $290.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of Clean Harbors in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $266.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clean Harbors

In other Clean Harbors news, CFO Eric J. Dugas acquired 1,050 shares of Clean Harbors stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $191.38 per share, for a total transaction of $200,949.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,638,668.44. This trade represents a 4.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Speights sold 2,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.44, for a total value of $518,949.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,619,123.52. This represents a 6.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,341 shares of company stock worth $663,041. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clean Harbors

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Reliant Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Clean Harbors in the fourth quarter valued at $4,386,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in Clean Harbors in the fourth quarter worth $846,000. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Clean Harbors by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 99,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,793,000 after buying an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Clean Harbors by 44.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,781,000 after buying an additional 8,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,510,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $365,070,000 after acquiring an additional 21,662 shares during the period. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.