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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

CLH has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of Clean Harbors in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $290.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Clean Harbors in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $325.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Clean Harbors from $284.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.56.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

Shares of CLH stock opened at $196.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $221.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $237.29. The firm has a market cap of $10.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.51 and a beta of 1.22. Clean Harbors has a 1-year low of $186.54 and a 1-year high of $267.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.76.

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

Insider Activity at Clean Harbors

In other news, CFO Eric J. Dugas purchased 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $191.38 per share, for a total transaction of $200,949.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,238 shares in the company, valued at $4,638,668.44. This trade represents a 4.53 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Speights sold 2,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.44, for a total value of $518,949.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,619,123.52. This trade represents a 6.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,341 shares of company stock worth $663,041 in the last three months. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Clean Harbors by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,659,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,072,237,000 after purchasing an additional 11,814 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Clean Harbors by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,044,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $930,707,000 after buying an additional 592,341 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in Clean Harbors by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,751,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,085,000 after buying an additional 80,436 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 187,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 697,630 shares during the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Clean Harbors

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.