EULAV Asset Management decreased its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 620,742 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 36,446 shares during the quarter. Waste Connections makes up about 3.0% of EULAV Asset Management's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. EULAV Asset Management owned approximately 0.24% of Waste Connections worth $121,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 37.3% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 19,710 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 59.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WCN has been the topic of several analyst reports. CIBC dropped 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $221.00 price target on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $213.93.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Waste Connections
Waste Connections Stock Performance
Waste Connections stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $182.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,336,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,019,202. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.36 and a 52 week high of $201.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $190.29 and a 200-day moving average of $187.53. The firm has a market cap of $47.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.91, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.60.
Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Waste Connections Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 51.85%.
About Waste Connections
(
Free Report)
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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