Atria Investments Inc Has $2.06 Million Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $2,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 93.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 504 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 7.7% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,506 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 2.1% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,916,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 6.5% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $417,385,000 after buying an additional 142,751 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter worth $57,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WCN. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of 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. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $183.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.55. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a PE ratio of 50.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.33 and a 1-year high of $188.30.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly 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. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 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.