2,169 Shares in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Bought by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at about $602,107,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,516,908,000 after buying an additional 1,920,302 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 35.0% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,436,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $319,336,000 after buying an additional 631,724 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,490,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $197,642,000 after buying an additional 609,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 64,555.9% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 561,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,480,000 after buying an additional 560,991 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN opened at $164.72 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $42.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.65, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $173.02. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on WCN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group cut shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.87.

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.