Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST Stock: Sterling Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 87.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 14,378 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,531,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $342,459,000 after acquiring an additional 949,374 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 6.6% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,292,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $125,295,000 after purchasing an additional 80,299 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 3.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 31,471 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 721,890 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,863,000 after purchasing an additional 22,270 shares during the period. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,045,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CWST opened at $93.33 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.23. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.05 and a twelve month high of $107.96. The company has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,037.12 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $543.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.43 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 0.29%. The company’s revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael K. Burke sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.26, for a total value of $104,786.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,299,441.66. This trade represents a 7.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas R. Casella sold 15,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.05, for a total transaction of $1,380,044.85. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 91,484 shares in the company, valued at $8,329,618.20. This trade represents a 14.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,709,494. Corporate insiders own 3.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CWST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $106.00 target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.83.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional solid waste services company founded in 1975 and headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. The company provides collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and organics services for residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers.

Casella operates an integrated network of solid waste management assets, including transfer stations, recycling facilities, landfills, composting and organics-processing operations, and resource-recovery facilities.