Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) CEO John Casella Sells 6,726 Shares

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) CEO John Casella sold 6,726 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.10, for a total value of $626,190.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,605,775.90. This represents a 19.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock traded down $1.24 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $91.92. 706,226 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,424. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 766.06 and a beta of 0.80. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $82.22 and a one year high of $121.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.08. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.43% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The company had revenue of $469.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $471.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $643,945,000 after acquiring an additional 581,310 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,765,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $368,787,000 after purchasing an additional 56,914 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 7.3% during the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,876,061 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $272,881,000 after purchasing an additional 195,947 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,703,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $264,816,000 after buying an additional 300,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,488,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $243,678,000 after buying an additional 477,216 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CWST. Weiss Ratings cut Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $120.00 price objective on Casella Waste Systems and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.22.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1975, the company has grown from a single-truck operation into a multi-state provider of integrated waste management solutions. Casella offers a comprehensive range of services, including residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, transfer station operations, landfill disposal, recycling processing and organics management.

Through a network of solid waste transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills, Casella serves communities primarily across the northeastern United States and parts of the mid-Atlantic region.