Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stock Position in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE:CLH) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 370,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,110 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Clean Harbors were worth $64,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Clean Harbors by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,974,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $547,138,000 after acquiring an additional 14,664 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Clean Harbors by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,419,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $237,492,000 after purchasing an additional 75,038 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Clean Harbors by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,418,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $233,292,000 after purchasing an additional 5,550 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Clean Harbors by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,378,894 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,941,000 after purchasing an additional 87,183 shares during the period. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new stake in Clean Harbors in the 1st quarter worth approximately $114,248,000. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clean Harbors Price Performance

Clean Harbors stock traded up $2.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $193.71. The stock had a trading volume of 353,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,291. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $191.02 and its 200 day moving average is $174.83. Clean Harbors, Inc. has a one year low of $129.70 and a one year high of $204.06.

Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Clean Harbors had a net margin of 6.99% and a return on equity of 17.83%. Clean Harbors’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Clean Harbors, Inc. will post 7.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Clean Harbors from $178.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Clean Harbors from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Clean Harbors from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Clean Harbors news, EVP Brian P. Weber sold 7,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.07, for a total value of $1,591,763.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,502,193.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Clean Harbors news, EVP Brian P. Weber sold 7,996 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.07, for a total value of $1,591,763.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 62,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,502,193.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric W. Gerstenberg sold 15,276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.71, for a total transaction of $2,867,457.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,646,773.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,185 shares of company stock worth $4,819,554 in the last 90 days. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Clean Harbors

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.