Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CWST. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Casella Waste Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.13.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of CWST opened at $91.03 on Tuesday. Casella Waste Systems has a 52-week low of $74.05 and a 52-week high of $118.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $84.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.46. The firm has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a PE ratio of 827.62 and a beta of 0.77.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 0.38%.The firm had revenue of $457.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $454.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Casella Waste Systems

In other news, Director Michael K. Burke sold 2,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.56, for a total transaction of $201,825.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,230,042.88. This represents a 14.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edmond Coletta sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $1,119,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 140,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,548,968.08. This represents a 8.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 18,027 shares of company stock worth $1,604,141 over the last 90 days. 3.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWST. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 10,865.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 990,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,040,000 after acquiring an additional 981,617 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,306,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,926,000 after acquiring an additional 871,761 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1,106.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 867,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,067,000 after acquiring an additional 795,414 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 653.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 841,897 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,455,000 after acquiring an additional 730,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $643,945,000 after acquiring an additional 581,310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1975, the company has grown from a single-truck operation into a multi-state provider of integrated waste management solutions. Casella offers a comprehensive range of services, including residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, transfer station operations, landfill disposal, recycling processing and organics management.

Through a network of solid waste transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills, Casella serves communities primarily across the northeastern United States and parts of the mid-Atlantic region.