Rathbones Group PLC Sells 3,749 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC reduced its stake in Waste Connections, Inc. by 0.6%, now holding 653,326 shares valued at approximately $127.5 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Waste Connections recently, with Townsquare Capital LLC boosting its stake by 60.6%.
• Latest earnings reports indicate Waste Connections outperformed consensus estimates, reporting $1.29 EPS on revenues of $2.41 billion for the quarter, marking a 7.1% year-over-year revenue growth.

Rathbones Group PLC decreased its holdings in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 653,326 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,749 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.25% of Waste Connections worth $127,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 24,944 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,861,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $623,155,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,281,741 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $640,563,000 after buying an additional 31,805 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Atb Cap Markets raised Waste Connections from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Waste Connections in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Waste Connections to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Waste Connections from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Waste Connections from $202.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waste Connections currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $215.00.

Waste Connections Stock Performance

Shares of WCN stock traded down $0.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $184.88. 868,520 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,140,049. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.77 billion, a PE ratio of 74.55, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.58. Waste Connections, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.36 and a twelve month high of $201.66. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $186.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.52.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Waste Connections had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm's revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Waste Connections's payout ratio is 50.81%.

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.