Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 108,522 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,937 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $21,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 829 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 59.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 92.8% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,483,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 43,564 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,475,000 after buying an additional 9,240 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WCN shares. National Bank Financial raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. Melius Research raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. William Blair assumed coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $212.29.

Waste Connections Trading Down 1.2%

Waste Connections stock opened at $185.88 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $192.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.32. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.36 and a 12 month high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $48.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.62.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 15.74% and a net margin of 6.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is currently 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.

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