Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Shares Sold by Wolverine Trading LLC

Wolverine Trading LLC cut its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 80.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,122 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WCN. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Waste Connections by 199.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 591,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,727,000 after buying an additional 393,763 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,763,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $315,347,000 after buying an additional 49,773 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 198,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,429,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 268,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,092,000 after acquiring an additional 156,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $197.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.88.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $179.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $46.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $184.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.27. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.69 and a 1-year high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. 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 0.70%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.