Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 391,062 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,881 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.15% of Waste Connections worth $67,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WCN. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Waste Connections by 34.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,190,000 after purchasing an additional 77,466 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 785.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 4,153 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 129,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,178,000 after buying an additional 22,310 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $349,483,000 after acquiring an additional 109,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mechanics Bank Trust Department purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at about $353,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $196.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.14, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $160.34 and a one year high of $201.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.35. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 51.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WCN shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $221.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections 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.