Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $25.77 Million Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 40.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,961 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Waste Connections worth $25,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Waste Connections by 20.5% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,294,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,516,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,302 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,500,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $522,988,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,043,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $408,695,000 after purchasing an additional 23,801 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 8.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,010,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,264,000 after purchasing an additional 236,518 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in Waste Connections by 35.0% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,436,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $319,336,000 after purchasing an additional 631,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WCN. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their target price on Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.33.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN opened at $162.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $41.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.62, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.12 and a twelve month high of $173.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.72.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 9.70%. Waste Connections’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.