Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,826 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections makes up approximately 1.7% of Contravisory Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Waste Connections were worth $8,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Waste Connections by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,293,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,025,836,000 after buying an additional 174,121 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,481,041,000 after buying an additional 356,798 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,231,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $984,214,000 after acquiring an additional 150,683 shares during the period. 86.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Waste Connections from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $212.23.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

NYSE WCN traded up $0.46 on Thursday, hitting $191.99. 812,111 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,006,531. The firm has a market cap of $49.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $194.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.53. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $165.20 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. 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.