DF Dent & Co. Inc. Has $234.32 Million Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,310,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 107,356 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections comprises 2.9% of DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. DF Dent & Co. Inc. owned 0.51% of Waste Connections worth $234,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.40.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.0 %

WCN stock opened at $190.35 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.25 and a 1-year high of $194.83. The stock has a market cap of $49.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.74.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.05. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This is a positive change from Waste Connections’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is presently 34.62%.

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.