Waste Connections’ (WCN) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reissued their buy rating on shares of Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $210.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $200.00.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $189.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $48.80 billion, a PE ratio of 51.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.67. Waste Connections has a 1-year low of $160.34 and a 1-year high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. On average, analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,041,000 after buying an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after buying an additional 2,269,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,020,672,000 after buying an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $984,214,000 after buying an additional 150,683 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Company 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.