Truist Financial Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN)

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $210.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $200.00. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 11.07% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WCN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $189.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.63. Waste Connections has a 12-month low of $160.34 and a 12-month high of $194.83. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. Equities analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,445,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 59.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 58.0% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 226 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

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.