Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 91.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,908 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 565 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 219,028 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,694,000 after acquiring an additional 11,347 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,168 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WCN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group lowered shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WCN opened at $165.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.57 and a 200-day moving average of $153.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.70 billion, a PE ratio of 53.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $126.12 and a 52 week high of $173.02.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.01%.

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.