William Blair Begins Coverage on Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN)

Equities researchers at William Blair began coverage on shares of Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WCN. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, CIBC lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.00.

Waste Connections Trading Down 5.9 %

NYSE WCN opened at $188.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Waste Connections has a 12 month low of $160.34 and a 12 month high of $201.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $188.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.26.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. As a group, research analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 153.3% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 59.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.