GAMMA Investing LLC Has $803,000 Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 785.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,682 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,153 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Waste Connections by 2.3% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,103,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,423,373,000 after purchasing an additional 178,870 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,313,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $950,055,000 after buying an additional 30,890 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Waste Connections by 35.3% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted 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, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Waste Connections by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,303,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $401,936,000 after acquiring an additional 309,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $170.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.74. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.35 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.71.

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

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WCN shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eight Capital upgraded Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.69.

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.