Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Receives $99.71 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the four analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.71.

CWST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised Casella Waste Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $94.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 209.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.33 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.89. Casella Waste Systems has a 12-month low of $72.97 and a 12-month high of $100.29.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $359.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.08 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 5.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Edmond Coletta sold 8,271 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $746,871.30. Following the sale, the president now owns 168,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,220,606.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Casella Waste Systems news, President Edmond Coletta sold 8,271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $746,871.30. Following the sale, the president now owns 168,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,220,606.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Casella sold 1,673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.13, for a total value of $157,479.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,312,340.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,238 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,395 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 232.0% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.