Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Short Interest Down 14.1% in February

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the February 13th total of 2,620,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WCN stock traded down $0.38 on Thursday, hitting $190.32. 90,328 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 876,781. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $185.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.57. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $49.12 billion, a PE ratio of 79.63, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $160.34 and a twelve month high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.43.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Waste Connections by 0.6% in 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 grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,020,672,000 after purchasing an additional 899,058 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 150,683 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.