Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN)

Investment analysts at Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) in a research note issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 10.04% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WCN. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. CIBC boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Five 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.53.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.3 %

Waste Connections stock opened at $178.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $187.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $181.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total value of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,078 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,272.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total transaction of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total value of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,550. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 144,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,899,000 after purchasing an additional 8,505 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 591.5% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 8,452 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,364,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $651,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320,933 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in Waste Connections during the first quarter worth $2,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

About Waste Connections

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.