Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $195.56.

WCN has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. American Trust lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 1,573 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 916 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 226 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $183.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $180.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.60. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $130.33 and a 1-year high of $188.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.62%.

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.