Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Position in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,585,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 717,440 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.34% of Waste Connections worth $5,552,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,217,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $975,190,000 after purchasing an additional 642,426 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the second quarter valued at $755,938,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Waste Connections by 3.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,995,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $746,054,000 after buying an additional 132,455 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,474,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,853,000 after acquiring an additional 35,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,038,786 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $567,402,000 after acquiring an additional 216,110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank set a $197.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $208.00 price objective on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $203.75.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $161.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $170.41 and a 200-day moving average of $174.07. The firm has a market cap of $41.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.65 and a 1-year high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.57%.

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.