Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Brokerages

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $111.50.

Several research firms have recently commented on CWST. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:CWST traded down $1.54 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $109.67. The stock had a trading volume of 236,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 313,594. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.20 and a 200 day moving average of $103.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 926.75, a PEG ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.01. Casella Waste Systems has a one year low of $80.04 and a one year high of $114.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casella Waste Systems

In related news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total value of $184,781.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,252,088.85. This trade represents a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CWST. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the second quarter valued at about $167,000. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.4% in the third 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. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 12.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the first quarter worth about $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.51% of the company's stock.

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.