Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $113.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $115.00.

CWST has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.80.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $106.04 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $108.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.27. Casella Waste Systems has a 12 month low of $84.45 and a 12 month high of $114.88. The company has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 883.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CWST. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 64.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

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.