Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 572,783 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 14.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,410,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 572,783 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 1.32% of Waste Connections worth $665,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 37.3% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Waste Connections by 89.5% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 288 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 19,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in Waste Connections by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 331,088 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,841,000 after purchasing an additional 30,136 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Monday, June 9th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.00.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $184.88 on Tuesday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $169.36 and a one year high of $201.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $185.83 and its 200 day moving average is $189.64. The company has a market capitalization of $47.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.04. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 50.81%.

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.