Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Stock Crosses Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Casella Waste Systems shares fell below their 200-day moving average, trading as low as $87.93 versus the $90.31 average, and were recently down 5.5%.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive but cautious: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $105.83, despite UBS downgrading it to neutral and cutting its target to $95.
• The company beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 16.9% year over year, while insiders sold $1.71 million of stock over the past three months.

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) shares passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $90.31 and traded as low as $87.93. Casella Waste Systems shares last traded at $88.53, with a volume of 691,950 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. UBS Group cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $122.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.83.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Down 5.5%

The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 983.78 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.31.

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

Insider Transactions at Casella Waste Systems

In other Casella Waste Systems news, Director Douglas Casella sold 1,343 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.12, for a total transaction of $122,374.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 90,141 shares in the company, valued at $8,213,647.92. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Burke sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.26, for a total transaction of $104,786.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,641 shares in the company, valued at $1,299,441.66. This represents a 7.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 18,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,709,494 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.78% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,531,594 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $342,459,000 after acquiring an additional 949,374 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,475 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $222,507,000 after purchasing an additional 27,148 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,292,101 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $125,295,000 after purchasing an additional 80,299 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,132 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 31,471 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 721,890 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,863,000 after purchasing an additional 22,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.51% of the company's stock.

About Casella Waste Systems

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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