JPMorgan Chase & Co. Begins Coverage on Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST)

Equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 12.54% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CWST. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Monday, September 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $113.00 price target on the stock. Loop Capital raised shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $125.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.56.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CWST opened at $99.52 on Thursday. Casella Waste Systems has a fifty-two week low of $82.22 and a fifty-two week high of $121.24. The company has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 411.12 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.20.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.09. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.85% and a return on equity of 5.63%. The company had revenue of $485.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $477.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,708,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $351,865,000 after buying an additional 296,405 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 7.3% during the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,876,061 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $272,881,000 after acquiring an additional 195,947 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 20.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,597,599 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,711,000 after acquiring an additional 432,589 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 39.3% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,010,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,786,000 after purchasing an additional 566,887 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 0.5% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,809,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $171,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,712 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Casella Waste Systems Company 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.