Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 413,805 Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 413,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,785,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 78,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,815,000 after acquiring an additional 36,573 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Casella Waste Systems by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,430,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,393,000 after purchasing an additional 109,288 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Casella Waste Systems by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 607,954 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,328,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Casella Waste Systems by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 31,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 5,888 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Casella Waste Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. 99.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Casella Waste Systems from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Casella Waste Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Casella Waste Systems in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.75.

Casella Waste Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CWST opened at $108.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.17. Casella Waste Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.41 and a fifty-two week high of $116.31. The company has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 472.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.00.

Casella Waste Systems (NASDAQ:CWST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Casella Waste Systems, Inc. will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.