Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$205.10.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. ATB Capital increased their price objective on Waste Connections from C$255.00 to C$260.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Eight Capital set a C$270.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Connections news, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$252.28, for a total value of C$144,051.88. In other news, Director Edward E. Guillet sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$249.52, for a total transaction of C$1,996,164.00. Also, Senior Officer Robert Andres Nielsen sold 571 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$252.28, for a total transaction of C$144,051.88. Insiders sold a total of 12,371 shares of company stock valued at $2,813,166 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$63.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$247.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$239.95. Waste Connections has a 12 month low of C$178.43 and a 12 month high of C$253.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 100.60, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.426 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of ∞. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 34.37%.

Waste Connections Company 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.