William Blair Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,809,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,712 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $171,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Casella Waste Systems by 14.4% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,412,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $393,691,000 after acquiring an additional 428,909 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,876,061 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $272,881,000 after purchasing an additional 195,947 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,597,599 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,711,000 after purchasing an additional 432,589 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,647,907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $156,353,000 after purchasing an additional 95,600 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Casella Waste Systems by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,500,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $173,101,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on CWST. UBS Group raised their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Casella Waste Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.22.

Casella Waste Systems Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of CWST opened at $93.16 on Friday. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.22 and a 1-year high of $121.24. The company has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 776.40 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.93.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $469.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.32 million. Casella Waste Systems had a net margin of 0.43% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Casella Waste Systems Profile

Casella Waste Systems, Inc is a regional resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. Established in 1975, the company has grown from a single-truck operation into a multi-state provider of integrated waste management solutions. Casella offers a comprehensive range of services, including residential, commercial and industrial waste collection, transfer station operations, landfill disposal, recycling processing and organics management.

Through a network of solid waste transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills, Casella serves communities primarily across the northeastern United States and parts of the mid-Atlantic region.