Citigroup Inc. Raises Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,187 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $22,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 75.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Waste Connections by 65.6% in 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 last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Waste Connections by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 317,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in Waste Connections by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 65,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,408,000 after purchasing an additional 6,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 142,751 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WCN. Eight Capital raised Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Five 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 MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.56.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $193.25 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $181.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.15 and a 1 year high of $194.24.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This is an increase from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.62%.

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.