Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $127.00 to $129.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Casella Waste Systems traded as high as $115.07 and last traded at $114.93, with a volume of 276672 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $111.36.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CWST. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,110,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $646,555,000 after buying an additional 123,001 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,577,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $272,705,000 after buying an additional 838,086 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,830,220 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $193,656,000 after buying an additional 13,678 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,644,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,002,000 after buying an additional 190,023 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,446,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $153,129,000 after purchasing an additional 15,917 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The stock has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 503.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $107.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.95.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 4.46%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.