Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 9.51%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WCN traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $164.95. The company had a trading volume of 752,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 902,172. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.46, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.83. Waste Connections has a 12-month low of $126.12 and a 12-month high of $173.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.51%.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WCN. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.87.

About Waste Connections

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.