HBK Investments L P Takes $497,000 Position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

HBK Investments L P purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the second quarter worth $167,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.4% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,110 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 12.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,743 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CWST. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Monday, August 5th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.50.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

CWST stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $113.21. The stock had a trading volume of 107,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 314,627. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.47 and a 1-year high of $114.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $103.64 and a 200 day moving average of $102.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 942.75, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.99.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $411.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.59 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.04% and a net margin of 0.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal 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.