10,880 Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST Shares Sold by Summit Creek Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Summit Creek Advisors cut its Casella Waste Systems stake by 11%, selling 10,880 shares; it ended the quarter with 87,753 shares worth about $7.1 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 99.51%, with several investors—including Wasatch Advisors and Wellington Management—adding shares during recent quarters.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $104.80. Casella also beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, while revenue grew 16.9% year over year.

Summit Creek Advisors LLC decreased its position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,753 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 10,880 shares during the quarter. Casella Waste Systems comprises about 2.8% of Summit Creek Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Summit Creek Advisors LLC owned 0.14% of Casella Waste Systems worth $7,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 36.8% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,531,594 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $342,459,000 after buying an additional 949,374 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 5,715.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 387,531 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $30,747,000 after buying an additional 380,867 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,045,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.6% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,292,101 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $125,295,000 after buying an additional 80,299 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 1,054.4% during the first quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 73,097 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 66,765 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $122.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Casella Waste Systems from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $104.80.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

CWST opened at $98.21 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $89.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.10. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.05 and a 1 year high of $107.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 1,091.34 and a beta of 0.71.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $543.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $526.43 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 5.32%. Casella Waste Systems's revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas Casella sold 15,157 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.05, for a total transaction of $1,380,044.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 91,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,329,618.20. The trade was a 14.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael Burke sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.26, for a total value of $104,786.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,299,441.66. The trade was a 7.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,700 shares of company stock worth $1,709,494. 3.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional solid waste services company founded in 1975 and headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. The company provides collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and organics services for residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers.

Casella operates an integrated network of solid waste management assets, including transfer stations, recycling facilities, landfills, composting and organics-processing operations, and resource-recovery facilities.

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