Truist Financial Corp Has $4.99 Million Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Truist Financial Corp cut its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 977 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 25,990 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,459,000 after purchasing an additional 4,105 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Waste Connections by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Connections by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $349,483,000 after buying an additional 109,701 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1,412.9% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 73,438 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,105,000 after acquiring an additional 68,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $187.41 on Monday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $179.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $194.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. CIBC dropped their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

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.