Bridgewater Associates LP Acquires Shares of 7,073 Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after buying an additional 1,453,733 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 44.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,037,000 after purchasing an additional 602,055 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the second quarter worth approximately $64,176,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 252.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 510,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,477,000 after purchasing an additional 365,487 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter worth approximately $54,800,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WCN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on 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. Five 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WCN opened at $192.47 on Monday. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.65 and a 52-week high of $194.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $182.31 and its 200-day moving average is $178.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $49.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.88, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 34.62%.

Waste Connections 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.