Atomi Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 90.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,505 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WCN. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at $85,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at $1,005,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter valued at $215,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 43.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,320,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 2,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $181.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $181.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.28. Waste Connections, Inc. has a one year low of $126.12 and a one year high of $187.54.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WCN. Raymond James increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. CIBC increased their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,706,466.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Waste Connections news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,706,466.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total value of $358,260.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,550. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.