D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 227 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Waste Connections by 58.0% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 226 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WCN. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN opened at $189.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.16, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $180.19 and a 200 day moving average of $182.15. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted 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 net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

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.