Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $188.65.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $177.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $187.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.96.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total value of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WCN. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 6.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 144,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,899,000 after purchasing an additional 8,505 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 591.5% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after buying an additional 8,452 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Waste Connections by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after buying an additional 1,320,933 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Waste Connections by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 34,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after buying an additional 7,917 shares during the period. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the first quarter worth about $1,040,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

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.