Waste Connections (TSE:WCN) Sets New 1-Year High at $234.92

Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$234.92 and last traded at C$234.92, with a volume of 49198 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$231.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, ATB Capital upped their price objective on Waste Connections from C$235.00 to C$240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$193.10.

Waste Connections Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 104.12, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of C$61.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$227.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$217.81.

Waste Connections (TSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported C$1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.38 by C$0.02. The company had revenue of C$2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.78 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 8.888 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.385 per share. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.96%.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$169.00, for a total value of C$169,000.00. In other Waste Connections news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$167.59, for a total value of C$251,387.85. Also, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$169.00, for a total value of C$169,000.00. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,388. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.