Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 123,001 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,110,529 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 123,001 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.65% of Casella Waste Systems worth $646,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,854,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $144,704,000 after purchasing an additional 487,661 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems in the 4th quarter worth $31,326,000. Maven Securities LTD bought a new stake in Casella Waste Systems in the third quarter worth $19,898,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 41.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 495,294 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $50,604,000 after buying an additional 144,212 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CWST traded down $6.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $108.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,798,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 336,900. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.41 and a 12 month high of $116.31. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 472.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.17.

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Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 0.87%. On average, analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CWST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Casella Waste Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $117.75.

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.