Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $255.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CLH shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Clean Harbors from $245.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on Clean Harbors from $253.00 to $230.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $237.00 price objective on shares of Clean Harbors in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Clean Harbors in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $277.00 to $270.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

CLH traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $227.56. The stock had a trading volume of 253,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 453,532. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $224.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56 and a beta of 1.16. Clean Harbors has a 1-year low of $178.29 and a 1-year high of $261.36.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 6.51%.Clean Harbors’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Clean Harbors by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,293,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,043,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,704 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Clean Harbors in the 2nd quarter valued at about $147,632,000. Durable Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Clean Harbors in the third quarter worth approximately $133,217,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 127.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 899,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,304,000 after purchasing an additional 504,290 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in Clean Harbors during the third quarter valued at approximately $108,608,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

About Clean Harbors

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.