Merit Financial Group LLC Has $693,000 Stock Holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 92.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,551 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,709 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Waste Connections by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,036,856 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $349,483,000 after acquiring an additional 109,701 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Waste Connections in the fourth quarter worth $370,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 829 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Waste Connections by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 508,810 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $86,471,000 after acquiring an additional 65,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Palumbo Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Waste Connections in the 4th quarter valued at about $479,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WCN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $221.00 price objective on shares of Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Melius began coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a report on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Melius Research raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $212.29.

Waste Connections Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:WCN traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $190.60. 494,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 998,576. The business's 50-day moving average price is $193.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.59. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 12 month low of $166.44 and a 12 month high of $201.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.62.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. Waste Connections's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued 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 yield of 0.66%. 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.