Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $223.78 Million Stock Position in Waste Connections, Inc. $WCN

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. by 56.2%, acquiring an additional 413,212 shares, resulting in ownership of 1,147,904 shares valued at approximately $223.8 million.
• Analysts have generally positive outlooks on Waste Connections, with several firms upgrading their ratings, while JPMorgan Chase raised its price target from $197.00 to $230.00.
• Waste Connections recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.315, representing a 0.7% dividend yield with a dividend payout ratio of 50.81%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 56.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,147,904 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 413,212 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.44% of Waste Connections worth $223,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the first quarter worth about $623,155,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,901,049,000 after buying an additional 954,242 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 19,519.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918,564 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $179,295,000 after buying an additional 913,882 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 195.0% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,153,530 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $224,961,000 after buying an additional 762,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Waste Connections by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,413,615 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $470,524,000 after purchasing an additional 413,190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WCN shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $202.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. CIBC reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Waste Connections Price Performance

NYSE:WCN traded up $1.86 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $185.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 690,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 943,188. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.35. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.36 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $47.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.64, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.61.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Waste Connections has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.81%.

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.