Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 174,121 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Waste Connections worth $5,025,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 307.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $344,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,733 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 554,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,121,000 after acquiring an additional 8,549 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 564,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $100,983,000 after acquiring an additional 22,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 123,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,171,000 after acquiring an additional 12,187 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC decreased their price objective on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN opened at $189.35 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 79.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $185.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.61. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.34 and a 12-month high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.