Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.3% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,383,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,230,984,000 after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on WCN shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $206.00 to $202.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.57.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:WCN opened at $182.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $188.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.08. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.36 and a 52 week high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $47.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.74% and a net margin of 6.93%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.85%.

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.