Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Grows Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,401 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Waste Connections during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WCN shares. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. CIBC lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.2 %

WCN stock opened at $184.04 on Friday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.31 and a 12 month high of $187.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $180.75 and its 200 day moving average is $176.02. The company has a market capitalization of $47.49 billion, a PE ratio of 50.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.32%.

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.