OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lowered its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,116,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,200 shares during the period. Waste Connections makes up about 1.4% of OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $195,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 21,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,855,000 after buying an additional 4,413 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 41,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,327,000 after buying an additional 4,418 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 158,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,752,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,677,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $294,214,000 after buying an additional 413,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,031,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Price Performance

WCN stock opened at $154.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $157.46 and a 200-day moving average of $164.94. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.89 and a 12-month high of $191.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $39.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.75, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.51.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.97% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The company had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.15%.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In related news, SVP Eric Hansen sold 6,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.82, for a total transaction of $988,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,350 shares in the company, valued at $2,200,347. The trade was a 31.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP James Little sold 2,605 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.98, for a total value of $427,167.90. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 34,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,640,092.10. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,605 shares of company stock worth $2,822,923. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, March 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $199.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $218.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $211.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.84.

About Waste Connections

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.