Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, an increase of 10.8% from the December 15th total of 2,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 309,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CWST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. William Blair began coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock traded down $0.31 on Monday, hitting $111.49. The company had a trading volume of 234,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,703. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The company has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a PE ratio of 929.08, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.03. Casella Waste Systems has a 52 week low of $83.50 and a 52 week high of $114.88.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $411.63 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Casella Waste Systems news, SVP Paul Ligon sold 1,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.81, for a total value of $184,781.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,088.85. This trade represents a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Casella Waste Systems

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,739,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $173,035,000 after buying an additional 4,462 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 3.2% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,680,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $166,725,000 after buying an additional 51,516 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,704,000 after buying an additional 487,661 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Casella Waste Systems by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,387,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,058,000 after purchasing an additional 75,352 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.