BMO Capital Markets Boosts Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Price Target to $186.00

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) had its target price upped by BMO Capital Markets from $182.00 to $186.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.78% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Five equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.33.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $163.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $168.22 and its 200 day moving average is $152.20. Waste Connections has a 12 month low of $126.12 and a 12 month high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,715,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $856,641,000 after purchasing an additional 509,929 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320,933 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,104,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $612,605,000 after purchasing an additional 280,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at $592,392,000. 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.