Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. by 8.1%, now owning 279,876 shares valued at approximately $31.2 million.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Casella Waste Systems, with an average target price of $123.83, following several analysts reaffirming buy ratings.
• Casella Waste Systems reported a quarterly revenue increase of 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year, achieving $417.1 million, along with an EPS of $0.19.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Free Report) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 279,876 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 24,781 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.44% of Casella Waste Systems worth $31,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,110,529 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $646,555,000 after purchasing an additional 123,001 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,577,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $272,705,000 after purchasing an additional 838,086 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,830,220 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $193,656,000 after purchasing an additional 13,678 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,644,476 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $174,002,000 after purchasing an additional 190,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,446,875 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $153,129,000 after acquiring an additional 15,917 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CWST shares. TD Cowen started 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 on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $135.00 to $129.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $123.83.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Casella Waste Systems stock traded down $5.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $102.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,129,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,859. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.01 and a fifty-two week high of $121.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $113.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a PE ratio of 468.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 4.69% and a net margin of 0.79%. The company had revenue of $465.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. Casella Waste Systems's quarterly revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Edmond Coletta sold 5,562 shares of Casella Waste Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.18, for a total transaction of $662,879.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 150,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,888,083.74. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.