Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Stake Lessened by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Waste Connections by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Waste Connections by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,750,000 after buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 15,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,711,000 after buying an additional 6,198 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 163.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 8,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $193.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.15 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.62%.

Waste Connections Company Profile

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.