Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $113.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $115.00.

CWST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. William Blair began coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.80.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CWST stock opened at $106.04 on Thursday. Casella Waste Systems has a one year low of $84.45 and a one year high of $114.88. The company has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 883.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $108.72 and a 200-day moving average of $105.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.48.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $411.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.59 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.04% and a net margin of 0.46%. Casella Waste Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Casella Waste Systems news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,085 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.