Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CLH. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Clean Harbors from $290.00 to $285.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Clean Harbors from $285.00 to $272.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Clean Harbors from $250.00 to $220.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Clean Harbors from $284.00 to $270.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clean Harbors presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $266.56.

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Clean Harbors Stock Performance

Shares of CLH stock traded down $1.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $196.43. The stock had a trading volume of 509,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,378. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $220.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Clean Harbors has a one year low of $186.54 and a one year high of $267.11. The firm has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a PE ratio of 26.47 and a beta of 1.22.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.19. Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 6.83%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. Clean Harbors's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Clean Harbors

In related news, CFO Eric J. Dugas purchased 1,050 shares of Clean Harbors stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $191.38 per share, for a total transaction of $200,949.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,238 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,638,668.44. This trade represents a 4.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lauren States sold 308 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.79, for a total value of $70,467.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,726,719.22. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,341 shares of company stock worth $663,041 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLH. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,658,128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $381,602,000 after acquiring an additional 697,630 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Clean Harbors during the fourth quarter worth about $136,974,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,044,092 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $930,707,000 after acquiring an additional 592,341 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Clean Harbors during the fourth quarter worth about $57,956,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 12.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,747,215 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $422,319,000 after acquiring an additional 187,140 shares in the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Clean Harbors Company Profile

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.