HighTower Advisors LLC Has $4.01 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,299 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 433,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 56,130 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $247,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 10,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 4,199 shares during the period. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 110.4% during the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WCN. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $196.00 to $192.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $205.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC dropped their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.43.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.4 %

WCN opened at $189.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $185.30 and its 200-day moving average is $182.62. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.34 and a 1-year high of $194.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $49.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.49, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.81.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last posted 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is currently 52.72%.

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.