AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 59,515 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 83.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,787 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 59,515 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.05% of Waste Connections worth $22,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Waste Connections by 307.1% during 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 during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 303,040 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $54,190,000 after buying an additional 77,466 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Waste Connections in the 3rd quarter worth $188,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 2.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,786 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Waste Connections by 785.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 4,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WCN. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $221.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank raised their target price on Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.21.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE WCN traded up $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $198.41. 891,532 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 970,434. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.70. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.34 and a 12-month high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $51.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 6.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 51.85%.

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.