Oppenheimer Boosts Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Price Target to $194.00

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) had its price objective boosted by Oppenheimer from $191.00 to $194.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

WCN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $194.19.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE:WCN opened at $180.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.05. Waste Connections has a 1 year low of $126.12 and a 1 year high of $187.54. The company has a market capitalization of $46.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 10.23%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,706,466.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Waste Connections news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,706,466.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total value of $358,260.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,550 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 1,167.4% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 473,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,020,000 after buying an additional 436,067 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 438.5% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 535,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $92,106,000 after buying an additional 436,041 shares during the period. Nicholas Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the second quarter worth about $64,176,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 252.5% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 510,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,477,000 after buying an additional 365,487 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 4,567.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 253,567 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,466,000 after buying an additional 248,134 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

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.