Short Interest in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Grows By 16.9%

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 585,100 shares, an increase of 16.9% from the February 13th total of 500,300 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 427,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Eric J. Dugas acquired 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $191.38 per share, with a total value of $200,949.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,638,668.44. This trade represents a 4.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Speights sold 2,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.44, for a total value of $518,949.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,619,123.52. This represents a 6.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,341 shares of company stock worth $663,041 over the last three months. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clean Harbors

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLH. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Clean Harbors in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its position in shares of Clean Harbors by 2,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Clean Harbors by 130.4% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Clean Harbors by 10,250.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 207 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Clean Harbors in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CLH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Clean Harbors from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Clean Harbors from $285.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Clean Harbors from $250.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $280.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given 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 “Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.56.

Clean Harbors Stock Performance

CLH stock traded up $2.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching $199.23. The company had a trading volume of 189,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,107. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.21. Clean Harbors has a twelve month low of $186.54 and a twelve month high of $267.11. The company has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $221.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.29.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

About Clean Harbors

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.