Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 2,100 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $1,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 647,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,459,000 after purchasing an additional 76,385 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 50,098 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 14,499 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CWST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $115.00 to $113.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of CWST opened at $111.14 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 483.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.00. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.41 and a 52 week high of $116.31.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 4.15%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

About Casella Waste Systems

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.