Brown Advisory Inc. Lowers Position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,491,097 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 41,632 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 0.58% of Waste Connections worth $291,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 41.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 19,710 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 92.8% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WCN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $221.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $212.29.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Waste Connections stock traded down $1.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $181.14. 1,361,447 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,014,816. The stock has a market cap of $46.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $190.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.36 and a 12-month high of $201.66.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 51.85%.

Waste Connections Company 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.