First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Acquires 1,329 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 46.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,168 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,329 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,516,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,302 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 23,801 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,010,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,264,000 after acquiring an additional 236,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 35.0% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,436,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $319,336,000 after purchasing an additional 631,724 shares during the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group lowered Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $170.00 to $181.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.33.

Insider Transactions at Waste Connections

In related news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total transaction of $152,591.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Waste Connections stock opened at $164.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.67. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $126.12 and a 52-week high of $173.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.98.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. Waste Connections’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 4.81 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.01%.

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.