California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 37,166 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 23.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 37,166 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Casella Waste Systems worth $9,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Casella Waste Systems

In other news, Director Michael K. Burke sold 2,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.56, for a total value of $201,825.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,042.88. This represents a 14.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edmond Coletta sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $1,119,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 140,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,548,968.08. This trade represents a 8.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.78% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $89.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 812.71 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.31. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.05 and a twelve month high of $111.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $457.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $454.49 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.38% and a return on equity of 5.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CWST. Barclays upgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $102.00 in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised Casella Waste Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.12.

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.