Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 73 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,516,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,302 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 57.7% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,500,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $522,988,000 after buying an additional 1,281,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,043,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $408,695,000 after acquiring an additional 23,801 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,010,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,264,000 after acquiring an additional 236,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Waste Connections by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,582,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,189,000 after acquiring an additional 147,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN opened at $165.37 on Thursday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $173.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $167.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.60. The firm has a market cap of $42.67 billion, a PE ratio of 53.69, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WCN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup increased their target price 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. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.