Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) have been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research 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 price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.25.

CWST has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James raised 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CWST opened at $100.01 on Friday. Casella Waste Systems has a 52-week low of $72.97 and a 52-week high of $109.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $103.17 and a 200 day moving average of $100.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 322.61, a P/E/G ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.99.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $377.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.87 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 1.35% and a return on equity of 3.83%. The business’s revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 16,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 613 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Company Profile

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.