PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co Purchases New Stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,448 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,965,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waste Connections by 0.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake 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 buying an additional 356,798 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waste Connections by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,177,724 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,231,368,000 after buying an additional 2,269,652 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,949,152 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,020,672,000 after acquiring an additional 899,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,736,179 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $984,214,000 after acquiring an additional 150,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WCN. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Waste Connections from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 26th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.23.

Waste Connections Price Performance

Waste Connections stock traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $197.26. 1,968,018 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,011,352. The company has a market cap of $50.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.13 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.35.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Waste Connections had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

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 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. Waste Connections's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.85%.

About Waste Connections

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.