Brokerages Set Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) PT at $109.75

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.75.

A number of brokerages have commented on CWST. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael K. Burke sold 1,100 shares of Casella Waste Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $102,289.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,370,765.59. The trade was a 6.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Douglas R. Casella sold 1,343 shares of Casella Waste Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.12, for a total value of $122,374.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 90,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,213,647.92. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 17,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,604,708 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 3,395 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1,601.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 5,094 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3,226.1% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,789,000 after acquiring an additional 67,749 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 301.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Casella Waste Systems during the second quarter worth $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $93.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Casella Waste Systems has a 52 week low of $74.05 and a 52 week high of $107.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 1,041.67 and a beta of 0.74.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 0.29%.The company had revenue of $543.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. Casella Waste Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

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.