Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Clean Harbors, Inc. has been rated with an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by ten analysts, with a target price averaging $263.40.
• The company recently reported earnings of $2.36 per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.03, though revenue was slightly down compared to the prior year.
• Insider trading activity showed a decrease in holdings, as executives sold a combined total of 15,948 shares in the past three months.

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $263.40.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CLH shares. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $278.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $254.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $268.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Clean Harbors from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st.

Clean Harbors Trading Up 2.3%

CLH stock opened at $250.72 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $231.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Clean Harbors has a 52-week low of $178.29 and a 52-week high of $267.11. The firm has a market cap of $13.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.21 and a beta of 1.18.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.03. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.48% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Clean Harbors news, EVP Brian P. Weber sold 3,035 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.17, for a total value of $689,460.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 54,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,391,669.16. This trade represents a 5.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Speights sold 1,022 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total transaction of $233,516.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,310 shares in the company, valued at $3,726,671.90. This trade represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,948 shares of company stock worth $3,611,729. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Clean Harbors

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,293,796 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,043,407,000 after buying an additional 1,249,704 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,751,478 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $403,085,000 after buying an additional 80,436 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,612,082 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $371,002,000 after buying an additional 13,167 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 127.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 899,566 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $177,304,000 after buying an additional 504,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 676,894 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $155,784,000 after buying an additional 15,888 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.43% of the company's stock.

Clean Harbors Company Profile

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.

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