Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) Price Target Increased to $194.00 by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) had its target price upped by Oppenheimer from $191.00 to $194.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WCN. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.19.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE:WCN opened at $181.70 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $182.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $46.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. Waste Connections has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $187.54.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waste Connections will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total value of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at $8,706,466.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total value of $180,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $2,902,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at $8,706,466.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waste Connections

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WCN. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 3.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the first quarter valued at $204,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 3.3% in the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 43.1% during the first quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,813 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.