Select Equity Group L.P. Sells 659,319 Shares of Clean Harbors, Inc. $CLH

Key Points

• Select Equity Group L.P. has reduced its stake in Clean Harbors, Inc. by 37.6%, selling 659,319 shares during the first quarter, leaving them with 1,092,159 shares.
• Several hedge funds, including Wellington Management and Millennium Management, significantly increased their positions in Clean Harbors, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Clean Harbors reported an earnings beat with $2.36 EPS in its last quarter, slightly above analysts' expectations, despite a 0.2% revenue decline year-over-year.

Select Equity Group L.P. lowered its position in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH - Free Report) by 37.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,092,159 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 659,319 shares during the quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. owned approximately 2.04% of Clean Harbors worth $215,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Clean Harbors in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Clean Harbors during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Clean Harbors during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its position in Clean Harbors by 2,800.0% during the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 261 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Clean Harbors by 25.8% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 273 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.43% of the company's stock.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

CLH traded down $3.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $235.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 55,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,572. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $237.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.98. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $178.29 and a 12 month high of $267.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.01 and a beta of 1.22.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Clean Harbors, Inc. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Clean Harbors

In other news, CEO Michael Louis Battles acquired 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $233.50 per share, for a total transaction 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 represents a 2.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Andrea Robertson sold 836 shares of Clean Harbors 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 9,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,310,232.32. The trade was a 7.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.60% 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.