Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) to Hold

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) was downgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $113.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $115.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.59% from the stock’s previous close.

CWST has been the subject of several other reports. William Blair began coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.80.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

CWST stock opened at $105.03 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.30. The company has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 875.25, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.03. Casella Waste Systems has a twelve month low of $84.45 and a twelve month high of $114.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $411.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.59 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.04% and a net margin of 0.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Casella Waste Systems

In other Casella Waste Systems news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. The trade was a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the third quarter worth about $50,854,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,704,000 after acquiring an additional 487,661 shares in the last quarter. Maven Securities LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,898,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 848,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,465,000 after acquiring an additional 151,744 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $14,924,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

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.