Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $242.40.

Several research firms recently commented on CLH. StockNews.com upgraded Clean Harbors from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $242.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $235.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $223.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st.

Clean Harbors Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CLH opened at $245.90 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The company has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.59 and a beta of 1.21. Clean Harbors has a 12 month low of $132.92 and a 12 month high of $247.24.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.25. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Clean Harbors’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Clean Harbors will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alan S. Mckim sold 50,000 shares of Clean Harbors stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $10,775,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,494,211 shares in the company, valued at $537,527,412.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Clean Harbors

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CLH. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Clean Harbors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Clean Harbors in the fourth quarter valued at about $691,000. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID acquired a new stake in shares of Clean Harbors during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $14,161,000. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Clean Harbors by 9.6% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 52,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,629,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 26,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,571 shares during the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.