LWM Advisory Services LLC Decreases Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

LWM Advisory Services LLC cut its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $950,055,000 after buying an additional 30,890 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 35.3% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $478,777,000 after buying an additional 699,012 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 6.5% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $417,385,000 after buying an additional 142,751 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 15.5% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,303,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $401,936,000 after buying an additional 309,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $349,483,000 after buying an additional 109,701 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on WCN shares. CIBC decreased their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $187.41 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83. The stock has a market cap of $48.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.73 and a 200-day moving average of $182.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

Waste Connections 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.