Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $470,000 Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Waste Connections by 10.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 14,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,590,000 after acquiring an additional 8,469 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,664 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Waste Connections in the second quarter valued at about $754,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the second quarter worth about $2,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $198.00 to $196.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.06.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock opened at $180.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $46.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.76. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.07 and a 12-month high of $194.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.91.

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.