Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Trims Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,192 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Waste Connections by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 396 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Lavaca Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 142.4% during the second quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total transaction of $1,569,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,596,190.52. This represents a 37.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $196.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $186.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $208.32.

Waste Connections Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $176.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.52, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.27 and a 52 week high of $201.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.37.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 6.65%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.33%.

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.