Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Receives $113.11 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $113.1111.

CWST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CWST opened at $74.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 624.80 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.31. Casella Waste Systems has a 12 month low of $74.05 and a 12 month high of $121.24.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $469.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.32 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.43% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. Analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Casella Waste Systems news, President Edmond Coletta sold 3,812 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.70, for a total transaction of $357,184.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 147,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,782,426.70. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Casella sold 6,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.10, for a total transaction of $626,190.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,605,775.90. This represents a 19.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,830 shares of company stock worth $1,454,208. Corporate insiders own 3.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 180.2% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 301.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1975, the company has grown from a single-truck operation into a multi-state provider of integrated waste management solutions. Casella offers a comprehensive range of services, including residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, transfer station operations, landfill disposal, recycling processing and organics management.

Through a network of solid waste transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills, Casella serves communities primarily across the northeastern United States and parts of the mid-Atlantic region.