Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) Receives C$196.10 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (TSE:WCN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$208.42.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. ATB Capital upped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from C$240.00 to C$255.00 in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eight Capital set a C$270.00 target price on Waste Connections and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th.

Waste Connections Stock Up 1.0 %

WCN stock opened at C$249.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$64.39 billion, a PE ratio of 55.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$247.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$237.98. Waste Connections has a fifty-two week low of C$174.74 and a fifty-two week high of C$253.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 100.60.

Waste Connections (TSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported C$1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.61 by C$0.09. The company had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$3.03 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 11.14%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 9.9808652 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waste Connections news, Senior Officer Philip Rivard sold 2,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$174.75, for a total transaction of C$401,925.00. In related news, Senior Officer Philip Rivard sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$174.75, for a total transaction of C$401,925.00. Also, Senior Officer Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$178.05, for a total transaction of C$2,902,254.12. Insiders sold a total of 30,671 shares of company stock worth $6,073,683 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.