Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Stock Position Raised by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,690,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,681 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $296,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WCN. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 969.5% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 17,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,149,000 after buying an additional 16,278 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the second quarter worth approximately $281,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.9% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 80,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,042,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 1.8% during the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 545,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $95,625,000 after acquiring an additional 9,835 shares during the period. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at $778,428.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total transaction of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mary Anne Whitney sold 16,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,899 shares in the company, valued at $8,706,466.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $181.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.28.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN opened at $177.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $181.65 and its 200-day moving average is $173.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.12 and a 12 month high of $187.54.

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

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 37.01%.

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.