Whittier Trust Co. Cuts Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Whittier Trust Co. reduced its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 5.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 122.0% in the first quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 994.4% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 197 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 232.3% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 216 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the second quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake 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 worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WCN. Raymond James Financial set a $213.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Waste Connections and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.63.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.9%

WCN stock opened at $176.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $177.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.48. The company has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.36 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 6.65%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.81%.

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.