Korea Investment CORP Makes New Investment in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 253,557 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,265,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Waste Connections by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 2,556 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 407 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $169.81 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.89 and a 52-week high of $188.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $166.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.17.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Philip Rivard sold 2,500 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.57, for a total transaction of $416,425.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,262.38. The trade was a 77.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Patrick James Shea sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total value of $1,171,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 19,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,103.62. The trade was a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,311 shares of company stock worth $2,303,997. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on WCN shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $176.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $199.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.89.

Waste Connections Company 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.