Cerity Partners LLC Has $1.96 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 86.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,078 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $1,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versor Investments LP grew its stake in Waste Connections by 75.1% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 65,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,408,000 after acquiring an additional 6,432 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Waste Connections by 6.5% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $417,385,000 after acquiring an additional 142,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the second quarter valued at approximately $932,000. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective 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 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Stock Down 0.9 %

Waste Connections stock opened at $190.83 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.31 and its two-hundred day simple 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 company has a market cap of $49.25 billion, a PE ratio of 52.43, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.25 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s payout ratio 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.