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

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $198.40.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WCN shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $185.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Waste Connections has a 1 year low of $137.25 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $183.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.70.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 34.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 12.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 852 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 18.4% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter valued at about $261,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 19.1% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.