Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Position in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,901,049,000 after purchasing an additional 954,242 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,575,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $892,023,000 after purchasing an additional 250,684 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,863,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $754,042,000 after purchasing an additional 100,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,819,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $744,420,000 after purchasing an additional 120,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:WCN opened at $174.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $169.36 and a one year high of $201.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.31. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 6.97%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 50.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $192.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $221.00 price target for the company. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Connections to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $213.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $204.00 to $199.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.64.

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.