Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 8,472 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 52,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,472 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $9,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 75.1% in the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 65.6% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 317,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 65,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,408,000 after acquiring an additional 6,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,332,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $417,385,000 after purchasing an additional 142,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WCN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Eight Capital upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Five 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.56.

Waste Connections Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of WCN stock opened at $192.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.15 and a fifty-two week high of $193.06. The company has a market cap of $49.76 billion, a PE ratio of 52.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.92.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.62%.

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.