Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 307.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $344,615,000 after buying an additional 1,453,733 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in Waste Connections by 438.5% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 535,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $92,106,000 after acquiring an additional 436,041 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Connections during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,176,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 252.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 510,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $89,477,000 after purchasing an additional 365,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,800,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

WCN opened at $185.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $47.83 billion, a PE ratio of 50.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $180.75 and a 200-day moving average of $176.16. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.31 and a 52-week high of $187.54.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.315 dividend. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.62%.

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.