Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $108.20.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CWST shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Casella Waste Systems during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 232.0% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Casella Waste Systems in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CWST opened at $98.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Casella Waste Systems has a fifty-two week low of $72.97 and a fifty-two week high of $109.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 317.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $103.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.80.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $377.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $373.87 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 1.35%. Casella Waste Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a vertically integrated solid waste services company in the United States. It offers resource management services primarily in the areas of solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers.