John Casella Sells 1,744 Shares of Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) Stock

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Director John Casella sold 1,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total transaction of $153,070.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,877.15. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of CWST stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $88.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 537,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,229. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.36. The company has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 737.23 and a beta of 0.80. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.22 and a fifty-two week 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 issued 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 analyst estimates of $471.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on CWST shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $120.00 target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.11.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

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

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.