JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 190,291 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,999,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 190,291 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $198,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 108.0% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 66,129 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,579,000 after acquiring an additional 34,340 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 667.9% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 48,231 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 41,950 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $142,393,000 after purchasing an additional 109,288 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 861,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,476,000 after buying an additional 26,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Casella Waste Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $562,000. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CWST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James lifted their target price on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on 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, William Blair initiated coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Insider Activity at Casella Waste Systems

In related news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. This represents a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CWST opened at $105.42 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.04 and a twelve month high of $114.88. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $107.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.08. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 878.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.02.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $411.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.59 million. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.04% and a net margin of 0.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal 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.