Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Receives $122.67 Average PT from Analysts

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $122.67.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CWST. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ CWST traded up $1.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $116.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 446,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 386,162. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.48. Casella Waste Systems has a 52 week low of $91.01 and a 52 week high of $121.24. The stock has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 508.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.89.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $417.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $403.64 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 4.15%. The company's revenue was up 22.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Casella Waste Systems news, President Edmond Coletta sold 5,562 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total value of $662,879.16. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 150,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,888,083.74. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul Ligon sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.67, for a total transaction of $237,340.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,347 shares in the company, valued at $2,414,578.49. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWST. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 29.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 131,906 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,122,000 after acquiring an additional 29,686 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 71.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,497 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 397,261 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,034,000 after buying an additional 7,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. 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.