Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $114.2222.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $125.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 10,865.8% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 990,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,040,000 after purchasing an additional 981,617 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 60.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,306,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,926,000 after purchasing an additional 871,761 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 1,106.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 867,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,067,000 after buying an additional 795,414 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 653.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 841,897 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,455,000 after buying an additional 730,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $643,945,000 after buying an additional 581,310 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CWST opened at $93.16 on Friday. Casella Waste Systems has a 12 month low of $82.22 and a 12 month high of $121.24. The stock has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 776.40 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $101.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 5.17% and a net margin of 0.43%.The company had revenue of $469.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Casella Waste Systems

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.