Short Interest in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Rises By 11.7%

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) was the target of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the October 15th total of 1,790,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 349,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days.

Insider Activity

In other Casella Waste Systems news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total transaction of $184,781.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,252,088.85. The trade was a 7.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,393,000 after acquiring an additional 109,288 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 131,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,122,000 after buying an additional 29,686 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,861 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,854,000. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 193,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,228,000 after acquiring an additional 41,336 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CWST. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $121.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.50.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock traded up $1.46 on Monday, reaching $108.01. The stock had a trading volume of 290,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 316,001. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $102.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.66. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 900.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.99. Casella Waste Systems has a 1 year low of $79.16 and a 1 year high of $111.01.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.04% and a net margin of 0.46%. The company had revenue of $411.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

About Casella Waste Systems

Casella Waste Systems, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a vertically integrated solid waste services company in the United States. It offers resource management services primarily in the areas of solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to residential, commercial, municipal, institutional, and industrial customers.