Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $107.46 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 575,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 111,517 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Waste Connections worth $107,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Waste Connections by 8.9% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,258,000 after purchasing an additional 3,868 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 2,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,901,049,000 after buying an additional 954,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the first quarter valued at $4,323,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total transaction of $1,569,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,596,190.52. This trade represents a 37.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WCN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $196.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.32.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of WCN opened at $174.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.27 and a 52 week high of $201.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 6.65%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.33%.

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.