Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 87,852 Shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN)

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Waste Connections by 6.3%, selling 87,852 shares during the 1st quarter, now holding approximately 0.51% of the company valued at $256 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their investments in Waste Connections, with Vanguard Group adding 3.3% more shares, bringing its total to over 30 million shares valued at nearly $5.9 billion.
• Waste Connections recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per share, indicating a 0.7% yield and a payout ratio of 50.81%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its stake in shares of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,313,373 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 87,852 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.51% of Waste Connections worth $256,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,247,244 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,901,049,000 after acquiring an additional 954,242 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,383,780 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,230,984,000 after acquiring an additional 18,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 17.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 2.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Waste Connections by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,575,547 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $892,023,000 after acquiring an additional 250,684 shares in the last quarter. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WCN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waste Connections from $197.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Waste Connections from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Waste Connections from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Melius started coverage on Waste Connections in a research note on Monday, June 9th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Waste Connections Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of WCN opened at $184.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $185.91 and a 200 day moving average of $189.61. Waste Connections, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.36 and a fifty-two week high of $201.66. The firm has a market cap of $47.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Waste Connections Announces Dividend

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

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