Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 82 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Waste Connections by 6.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 144,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,899,000 after buying an additional 8,505 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 591.5% during the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 8,452 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $651,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320,933 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 34,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917 shares during the period. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new position in Waste Connections during the first quarter valued at $1,040,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WCN shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.28.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total transaction of $358,260.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,272.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WCN opened at $180.46 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.54. The company has a market cap of $46.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $187.54.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

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.