Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $204.43.

Several research firms recently issued reports on WCN. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. William Blair began coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Waste Connections from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $687,935,000. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 307.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,927,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $344,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,733 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the fourth quarter valued at $240,422,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Waste Connections by 19,519.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918,564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,295,000 after purchasing an additional 913,882 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company’s stock.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock opened at $195.84 on Tuesday. Waste Connections has a fifty-two week low of $160.34 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $189.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.89. 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 firm has a market cap of $50.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.94, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.04). Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Analysts predict that Waste Connections will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections’s payout ratio is 52.72%.

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.