Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 39,976 Shares of Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 205,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,976 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Clean Harbors were worth $53,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Clean Harbors in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Clean Harbors by 63.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 214 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Clean Harbors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Clean Harbors during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in Clean Harbors by 161.6% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLH shares. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Clean Harbors in a report on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $325.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Clean Harbors from $300.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Clean Harbors from $252.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Clean Harbors from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Clean Harbors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $271.00.

Clean Harbors Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE:CLH opened at $239.45 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Clean Harbors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.39 and a twelve month high of $267.11. The company has a market cap of $12.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.18 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $252.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.71.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($0.03). Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 7.19%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Clean Harbors, Inc. will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Eric W. Gerstenberg sold 6,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.42, for a total value of $1,515,291.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,937,625.94. This trade represents a 9.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lauren States sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.74, for a total transaction of $80,307.92. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,150 shares in the company, valued at $3,428,731. This trade represents a 2.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,446 shares of company stock worth $2,119,483 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.90% 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.