Raymond James & Associates Sells 3,260 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 400,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,260 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.16% of Waste Connections worth $59,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,516,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,302 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,218,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,378,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157,470 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth about $602,107,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,736,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $533,998,000 after buying an additional 23,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,043,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $408,695,000 after buying an additional 23,801 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Waste Connections from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.82.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $171.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $172.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.51.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.03. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 38.51%.

Waste Connections Company 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.