Legato Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. $CWST

Legato Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 59.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,180 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Casella Waste Systems were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 3,395 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 1,601.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 5,094 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 3,226.1% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,789,000 after purchasing an additional 67,749 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Casella Waste Systems by 301.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Casella Waste Systems during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CWST shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Casella Waste Systems from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Casella Waste Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Casella Waste Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.22.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CWST opened at $93.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $100.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.79. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.22 and a 52-week high of $121.24. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 779.65 and a beta of 0.80.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 5.17% and a net margin of 0.43%.The company’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Casella Waste Systems

In other news, CAO Kevin Drohan sold 675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.61, for a total value of $62,511.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,055.82. This trade represents a 8.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Edmond Coletta sold 3,812 shares of Casella Waste Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.70, for a total transaction of $357,184.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 147,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,782,426.70. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 11,213 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,887 in the last three months. 3.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Casella Waste Systems

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.