Brokerages Set Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Price Target at $199.69

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $199.69.

Several research firms recently commented on WCN. CIBC lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Institutional Trading of Waste Connections

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.1% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 12,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 47,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,243,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 74,702 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,100,000 after buying an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 7.9% during the second quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the period. Finally, Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter worth $498,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $172.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $181.52 and a 200 day moving average of $180.78. Waste Connections has a 12 month low of $145.35 and a 12 month high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. 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.