Quantinno Capital Management LP Purchases 676 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WCN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $687,935,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,422,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Waste Connections by 239.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 647,727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $115,558,000 after acquiring an additional 457,137 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair began coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $221.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $194.86 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The firm has a market cap of $50.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.53, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.40 and a 200 day moving average of $186.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.85%.

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.