Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 30.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $84,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CWST. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,739,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $173,035,000 after purchasing an additional 4,462 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,680,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $166,725,000 after purchasing an additional 51,516 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 valued at $144,704,000 after purchasing an additional 487,661 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,393,000 after purchasing an additional 109,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,387,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $138,058,000 after purchasing an additional 75,352 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Casella Waste Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CWST opened at $107.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.55. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 898.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $108.74 and a 200-day moving average of $105.26. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.45 and a 52-week high of $114.88.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.