Elefante Mark B Acquires Shares of 12,461 Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Elefante Mark B bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,077,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nicholas Company Inc. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 449,112 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,756,000 after acquiring an additional 109,950 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 669,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,394,000 after acquiring an additional 7,866 shares during the period. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd now owns 56,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,754,000 after acquiring an additional 12,680 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,140 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,546,000 after purchasing an additional 8,363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everstar Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter worth $2,100,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WCN. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $176.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $199.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.89.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Michael Cloninger sold 2,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.02, for a total value of $480,737.22. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 11,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,119.32. This trade represents a 19.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Patrick James Shea sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total transaction of $1,171,950.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 19,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,103.62. This trade represents a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,311 shares of company stock valued at $2,303,997. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $169.81 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.13. The company has a market cap of $42.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.89 and a twelve month high of $188.09.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 10.86%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 33.73%.

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.