Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 899,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,810 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $88,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CWST. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 10,865.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 990,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,040,000 after acquiring an additional 981,617 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 1,106.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 867,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,067,000 after acquiring an additional 795,414 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 653.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 841,897 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,455,000 after acquiring an additional 730,128 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,574,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $643,945,000 after acquiring an additional 581,310 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,010,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,786,000 after acquiring an additional 566,887 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CWST opened at $87.81 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $83.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.47. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $74.05 and a 52-week high of $118.91. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 798.35 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.10. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 5.19% and a net margin of 0.38%.The company had revenue of $457.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $454.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Casella Waste Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday. UBS Group cut their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays raised Casella Waste Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $101.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.13.

Insider Transactions at Casella Waste Systems

In related news, CEO Edmond Coletta sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $1,119,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 140,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,548,968.08. This represents a 8.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Casella sold 1,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total value of $153,070.88. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,877.15. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,422 shares of company stock valued at $1,729,647. 3.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Casella Waste Systems Profile

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1975, the company has grown from a single-truck operation into a multi-state provider of integrated waste management solutions. Casella offers a comprehensive range of services, including residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, transfer station operations, landfill disposal, recycling processing and organics management.

Through a network of solid waste transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills, Casella serves communities primarily across the northeastern United States and parts of the mid-Atlantic region.