Citigroup Inc. Decreases Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Citigroup Inc. decreased its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 23.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,918 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $13,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 4.0% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 5,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $880,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Waste Connections by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 5,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Waste Connections by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,694,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $473,518,000 after purchasing an additional 233,400 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in Waste Connections by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the period. Finally, OAKMONT Corp lifted its position in Waste Connections by 163.9% in the third quarter. OAKMONT Corp now owns 162,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,600,000 after purchasing an additional 101,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank set a $197.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Waste Connections from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.75.

Waste Connections Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $172.06 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.65 and a 12-month high of $201.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.26, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 16.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.57%.

Waste Connections Company Profile

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.