Perpetual Ltd Acquires 8,611 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 12.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,499 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Waste Connections were worth $15,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Waste Connections by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,521 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 43,564 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,475,000 after purchasing an additional 9,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Melius Research upgraded Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $213.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Waste Connections in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.29.

Waste Connections Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE WCN opened at $187.50 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $192.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.33. 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 52-week low of $169.36 and a 52-week high of $201.66. The company has a market capitalization of $48.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.62.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Waste Connections's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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