Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) Short Interest Up 23.3% in March

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,850,000 shares, an increase of 23.3% from the February 28th total of 1,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 352,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Casella Waste Systems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Casella Waste Systems by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 802 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,516 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 124.4% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 276 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,298,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. 99.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Casella Waste Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Casella Waste Systems stock opened at $114.29 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.12. Casella Waste Systems has a 12 month low of $86.41 and a 12 month high of $116.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 496.91, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.48.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.87% and a return on equity of 4.15%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Casella Waste Systems will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CWST shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $115.00 to $113.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.75.

About Casella Waste Systems

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.