Traynor Capital Management Inc. Buys 230 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 12.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Sands Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Connections news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total transaction of $251,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,341,390.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Waste Connections news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total transaction of $251,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,341,390.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total value of $332,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,286. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,385. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group downgraded Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.94.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $175.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $166.38 and a 200 day moving average of $161.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.70. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $176.19.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

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