Analysts Set Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Target Price at $207.74

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, seventeen have issued a buy recommendation and six have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $207.0526.

WCN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $205.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, October 23rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 7,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Waste Connections by 1.6% in the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.6% during the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 2,556 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, RDA Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 2,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $167.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 69.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.63. Waste Connections has a one year low of $162.06 and a one year high of $201.66. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.72.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 16.07%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

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

Waste Connections Company Profile

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.