AQR Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Clean Harbors, Inc. $CLH

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Clean Harbors by 63.3%, owning 32,228 shares after selling 55,657 shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Michael Louis Battles bought 2,000 shares of Clean Harbors, increasing his ownership by 2.47% to a total of 82,911 shares, valued at approximately $19.36 million.
• Clean Harbors reported $2.36 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, but its revenue decreased 0.2% compared to the previous year.

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH - Free Report) by 63.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,228 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 55,657 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Clean Harbors worth $6,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 2.7% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 4,634 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 8,310 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,638,000 after buying an additional 1,301 shares during the last quarter. Tribune Investment Group LP bought a new position in Clean Harbors during the 1st quarter worth approximately $12,812,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,793 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Clean Harbors news, CEO Michael Louis Battles acquired 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $233.50 per share, with a total value of $467,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 82,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,359,718.50. This trade represents a 2.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Andrea Robertson sold 836 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.64, for a total value of $195,323.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,310,232.32. This represents a 7.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

CLH opened at $235.98 on Friday. Clean Harbors, Inc. has a 1 year low of $178.29 and a 1 year high of $267.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $237.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $12.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14 and a beta of 1.22.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.03. Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 6.48%.The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Clean Harbors, Inc. will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLH has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $268.00 price target on Clean Harbors and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Clean Harbors from $278.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Clean Harbors from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Clean Harbors from $254.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $263.40.

Clean Harbors 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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