Citigroup Inc. Boosts Holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 140.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 55,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,682 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $5,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Casella Waste Systems in the 1st quarter worth about $281,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 222.3% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 31,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,154,000 after buying an additional 21,927 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,433 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 99.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

CWST stock opened at $113.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.48. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.47 and a 1-year high of $114.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $103.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.62. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 943.42, a PEG ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 0.99.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $411.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Casella Waste Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Casella Waste Systems Profile

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.