Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stock Holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its stake in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 43.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 84,431 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.18% of Casella Waste Systems worth $11,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CWST. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,739,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $173,035,000 after purchasing an additional 4,462 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,704,000 after purchasing an additional 487,661 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,393,000 after purchasing an additional 109,288 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 5.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,387,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,058,000 after purchasing an additional 75,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 4.4% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 950,484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,564,000 after purchasing an additional 39,666 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on CWST shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $110.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.71 and a 200 day moving average of $106.76. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.41 and a 12 month high of $116.31. The firm has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of 480.26, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 0.87%. On average, research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

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.