Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CLH. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Clean Harbors from $285.00 to $272.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Clean Harbors from $290.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $268.00 target price on shares of Clean Harbors in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Clean Harbors in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $325.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clean Harbors currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $270.56.

Clean Harbors Stock Performance

Clean Harbors stock opened at $197.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $228.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.43. Clean Harbors has a 52-week low of $184.51 and a 52-week high of $267.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59 and a beta of 1.22.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.19. Clean Harbors had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 6.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Clean Harbors news, Director Lauren States sold 308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.04, for a total transaction of $73,624.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,922,503.04. This trade represents a 2.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 924 shares of company stock worth $219,570 over the last three months. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clean Harbors

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,659,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,237,000 after purchasing an additional 11,814 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,044,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $930,707,000 after purchasing an additional 592,341 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,751,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,085,000 after purchasing an additional 80,436 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,747,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $422,319,000 after purchasing an additional 187,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 72.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,658,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $381,602,000 after purchasing an additional 697,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

Clean Harbors Company Profile

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.