Raymond James & Associates Increases Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 422,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,580 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.16% of Waste Connections worth $75,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 116.2% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 3,885.7% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 279 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In other news, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, 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 owns 10,078 shares in the company, valued at $1,805,272.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $778,428.15. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $181.70 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.92. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $126.12 and a 12-month high of $187.54. The firm has a market cap of $46.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.99, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 10.23%. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on WCN. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. CIBC boosted their price objective on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.19.

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.