Anthracite Investment Company Inc. Takes Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,000. Waste Connections comprises approximately 1.3% of Anthracite Investment Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,809,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $409,936,000 after acquiring an additional 373,225 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth approximately $457,000. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in Waste Connections by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,110,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $316,137,000 after buying an additional 107,787 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 8,477 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WCN. Atb Cap Markets downgraded Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. CIBC lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.33.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN stock traded up $0.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $167.59. The company had a trading volume of 649,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 999,237. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $167.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $43.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $126.12 and a fifty-two week high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total transaction of $332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,049,286. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total value of $332,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,049,286. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,402 shares of company stock valued at $735,976. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections, Inc provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals.