Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Trims Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. trimmed its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 432 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:WCN opened at $164.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.18. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.12 and a 12 month high of $173.02. The company has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.31, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.33.

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.