Nicholas Company Inc. Buys Shares of 47,683 Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Nicholas Company Inc. bought a new stake in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 47,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,045,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CWST. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,854,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,454,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $144,704,000 after acquiring an additional 487,661 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $31,326,000. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $19,898,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 848,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,465,000 after acquiring an additional 151,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CWST. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $113.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

CWST stock opened at $107.50 on Friday. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $86.41 and a 1-year high of $116.31. The firm has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 467.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.25. Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 0.87%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current 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.