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

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,110,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring 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 reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1,606.7% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 156.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 318 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 30.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 802 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of 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. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

CWST stock opened at $110.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.00. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.41 and a 52-week high of $116.31. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 481.30, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $109.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.00.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 0.87%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current 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.