Prana Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,867 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,663 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $8,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,481,041,000 after acquiring an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Waste Connections by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $984,214,000 after acquiring an additional 150,683 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.
Waste Connections Trading Up 1.5%
Shares of WCN stock traded up $2.83 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $196.20. 641,971 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,135,997. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $192.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.34 and a 52-week high of $201.66.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Waste Connections Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.85%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages have commented on WCN. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.21.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on WCN
About Waste Connections
(
Free Report)
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.
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