Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Sets New 52-Week High at $173.03

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $173.03 and last traded at $172.75, with a volume of 20765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WCN. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Waste Connections from $171.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $169.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.82.

Waste Connections Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.51. The company has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.03. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.51%.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 220,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,895,000 after purchasing an additional 74,995 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 5.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 214,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,787,000 after buying an additional 10,179 shares in the last quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC raised its position in Waste Connections by 42.1% during the third quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 51,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,930,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 86.2% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 184,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,388,000 after acquiring an additional 85,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 344,858 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,290,000 after acquiring an additional 26,539 shares during the period. 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.