Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN Holdings Increased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,443,177 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,615 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.95% of Waste Connections worth $454,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 396 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the first quarter valued at $87,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 9,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.44, for a total transaction of $1,569,960.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,596,190.52. The trade was a 37.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WCN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $221.00 to $218.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.32.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN opened at $168.04 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $171.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.94. The stock has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.02, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $163.27 and a one year high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.33%.

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.