Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 748,700 shares, a growth of 28.0% from the February 28th total of 585,100 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 447,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Robert Speights sold 2,725 shares of Clean Harbors stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.44, for a total transaction of $518,949.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,619,123.52. The trade was a 6.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lauren States sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.04, for a total transaction of $73,624.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,922,503.04. The trade was a 2.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,341 shares of company stock worth $663,041. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clean Harbors

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLH. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Clean Harbors during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in shares of Clean Harbors by 2,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Clean Harbors by 130.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Clean Harbors by 10,250.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 207 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Clean Harbors during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CLH. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Clean Harbors from $290.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $256.00 to $254.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $284.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Clean Harbors from $250.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Clean Harbors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.56.

Clean Harbors Stock Performance

NYSE:CLH traded up $5.02 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $205.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 445,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,987. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74 and a beta of 1.22. Clean Harbors has a 12 month low of $186.54 and a 12 month high of $267.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $215.05 and a 200-day moving average of $234.76.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The business services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Clean Harbors will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clean Harbors Company Profile

Clean Harbors, Inc provides environmental and industrial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Environmental Services and Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions. The Environmental Services segment collects, transports, treats, and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as resource recovery, physical treatment, fuel blending, incineration, landfill disposal, wastewater treatment, lab chemicals disposal, and explosives management services; and offers CleanPack services, including collection, identification, categorization, specialized packaging, transportation, and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.