Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Acquires New Shares in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 626 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $108,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WCN. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 8,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total value of $169,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,321 shares in the company, valued at $899,249. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total transaction of $251,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,004 shares in the company, valued at $1,341,390.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $169,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,321 shares in the company, valued at $899,249. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,385 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.94.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $174.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $175.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.23.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.01%.

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.