Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST Shares Sold by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue cut its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 48.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,054 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CWST. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 4,006 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 4,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Casella Waste Systems by 27.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Casella Waste Systems by 54.8% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the second quarter valued at $256,000. 99.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $106.00 price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.83.

Insider Activity

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

Casella Waste Systems Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of CWST stock opened at $90.22 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,002.56 and a beta of 0.78. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.05 and a fifty-two week high of $107.96.

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

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.