PFG Advisors Purchases 7,705 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

PFG Advisors increased its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 46.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,267 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,705 shares during the period. PFG Advisors' holdings in Waste Connections were worth $4,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WCN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 174,121 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Waste Connections by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,644,222 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,481,041,000 after purchasing an additional 356,798 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,231,368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,652 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.3% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,383,780 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,230,984,000 after acquiring an additional 18,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 899,058 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair began coverage on Waste Connections in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Waste Connections from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. 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, June 9th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Waste Connections from $206.00 to $202.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $214.00.

Waste Connections Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of WCN traded up $3.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $185.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,723,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,034,017. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.36 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $188.32.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.13 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.