William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 3,021 Shares of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

William Blair Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,666,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,021 shares during the period. Casella Waste Systems comprises about 0.7% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 4.60% of Casella Waste Systems worth $264,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CWST. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter worth $101,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the fourth quarter worth $267,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,311,917 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,116,000 after purchasing an additional 412,812 shares during the last quarter. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CWST. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Casella Waste Systems in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.80.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

CWST opened at $108.06 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 348.58, a P/E/G ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.99. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.97 and a 52 week high of $108.62.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.06). Casella Waste Systems had a return on equity of 3.83% and a net margin of 1.35%. The company had revenue of $377.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $373.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.