Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 22,368 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 871,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,368 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $92,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Casella Waste Systems by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 593,585 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,056,000 after purchasing an additional 47,165 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 140.5% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 55,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after buying an additional 32,682 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 18.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 2.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 35,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,514,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CWST. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CWST opened at $110.69 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $109.77 and a 200-day moving average of $106.91. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.41 and a 12 month high of $116.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a PE ratio of 481.26, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 4.15%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.