Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Buys 215 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 386,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.15% of Waste Connections worth $67,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,498,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,902,110,000 after buying an additional 88,137 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in 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 worth $856,641,000 after acquiring an additional 509,929 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320,933 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 7.3% in the fourth 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, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 8.3% in the first quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,516,867 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $432,926,000 after purchasing an additional 193,787 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total transaction of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $179.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $181.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.42. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $126.12 and a fifty-two week high of $187.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on WCN shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.28.

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.