Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $104,000 in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 604 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Pacifica Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total transaction of $332,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,049,286. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael W. Harlan sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.59, for a total value of $251,385.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,341,390.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.00, for a total transaction of $332,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,286. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,500 shares of company stock worth $752,385 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Waste Connections from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Five research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.94.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $174.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $45.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.69, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $166.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.38. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.12 and a 1-year high of $175.43.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

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.