Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Declares $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of 0.285 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th.

Waste Connections has raised its dividend by an average of 11.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Waste Connections has a dividend payout ratio of 20.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Waste Connections to earn $5.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.0%.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $164.18 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.18. The company has a market cap 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 has a 52 week low of $126.12 and a 52 week high of $173.02. 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 (NYSE:WCN) last released 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 firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Waste Connections will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Connections news, Director Andrea E. Bertone sold 902 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.17, for a total value of $152,591.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WCN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $136.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Waste Connections from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Waste Connections from $146.50 to $179.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.33.

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.