Ameriprise Financial Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,766,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37,357 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.68% of Waste Connections worth $318,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,041,000 after buying an additional 356,798 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after buying an additional 2,269,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after buying an additional 899,058 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $984,214,000 after acquiring an additional 150,683 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.21.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $197.99 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $191.90 and its 200 day moving average is $185.61. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $51.15 billion, a PE ratio of 82.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Waste Connections’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. 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.