Brown Financial Advisors Boosts Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Brown Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,077 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Waste Connections were worth $871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waste Connections by 307.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,453,733 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 432.6% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,259,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $225,078,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,851 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 35.3% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,678,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $478,777,000 after acquiring an additional 699,012 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,964,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,037,000 after acquiring an additional 602,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 199.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 591,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,727,000 after acquiring an additional 393,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $187.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $179.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.09. The company has a market cap of $48.51 billion, a PE ratio of 78.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. CIBC dropped their price target on Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

Waste Connections 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.