Fisher Funds Management LTD Has $28.15 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Fisher Funds Management LTD raised its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 80.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 159,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,277 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $28,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 39.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,455,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $783,218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,150 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,136,218 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,536,000 after purchasing an additional 918,245 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,585,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,552,682,000 after purchasing an additional 717,440 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 55.7% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,991,112 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,603,000 after purchasing an additional 711,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,263,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,197,000 after purchasing an additional 301,389 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 price target on Waste Connections and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Barclays set a $176.00 price target on Waste Connections and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (down from $219.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target (down from $206.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.81.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of WCN stock opened at $160.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.61. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $154.90 and a twelve month high of $199.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.37.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 16.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 33.57%.

Waste Connections Profile

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.