Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN Shares Sold by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 16.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.6% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. MWA Asset Management raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.2% in the first quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.4% in the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 4,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.0% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 29.2% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $174.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $44.72 billion, a PE ratio of 70.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $181.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.31. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.36 and a 1-year high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 15.72%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $224.00 to $211.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Monday, June 9th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $202.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $192.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $213.64.

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.