Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Receives $187.28 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $190.53.

WCN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $195.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections

In related news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total value 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 approximately $778,428.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Waste Connections news, SVP Robert Nielsen III sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.15, for a total value of $180,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,428.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Susan Netherton sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.13, for a total transaction of $358,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,805,272.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,600 shares of company stock worth $3,842,550. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waste Connections

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WCN. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 116.2% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Waste Connections during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3,885.7% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 279 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.3 %

WCN opened at $178.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.83, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.01. Waste Connections has a 52 week low of $126.12 and a 52 week high of $187.54. 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 (NYSE:WCN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

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.